Residents in Lò Đúc Street, in Hà Nội's Hai Bà Trưng District, are tested for COVID-19. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội has developed plans to respond to a range of possible scenarios as the number of local COVID-19 infections increases, Deputy Secretary of the Hà Nội Party Committee Nguyễn Văn Phong has said.

The city's agencies including health, industry, trade, education, and transportation have actively developed plans at different levels to deal with the pandemic if the situation becomes more complicated, he said at a press conference on Saturday morning.

Nguyễn Đình Hưng, director of the city's Health Department, said Hà Nội recorded an additional 50-60 new COVID-19 cases a day and this number was predicted to increase due to a number of cases being detected in the community through increased screening. There were also a number of infected cases that had been detected with no symptoms.

At present, the department has 1,000 beds prepared for treatment and can increase this to up to 50,000 beds in the worst-case scenario, according to Hưng.

The city has also prepared a field hospital at the Capital Military School as well as in the student housing area, in three buildings, at Pháp Vân-Tứ Hiệp isolation area. Each building can accommodate up to 700 beds.

"With these plans, together with the direction of the City Party Committee and People's Committee, Hà Nội is completely ready to respond to each specific situation," Hưng said.

The city's testing capacity is currently 48,000 samples per day.

As of July 23, 201,965 people had received one dose of vaccine and 9,443 people have been fully vaccinated. These are mostly frontline workers.

Hà Nội aims to inject 100,000-200,000 people a day under the national vaccination campaign.

The city has set up 1,000 to 1,200 vaccination sites throughout the city, that are both mobile and fixed.

In order to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hà Nội also suspended motorbikes from transporting passengers and delivery services from earlier today, Saturday, July 24, according to the Department of Transport.

The suspension is for motorbikes and ride-hailing services.

The agency also requested the Department of Information and Communications monitor and handle violations if ride-hailing service providers failed to comply with the decision. — VNS