Hanoi’s Party Committee said the city will apply the strictest social distancing rules in areas with very high risks of Covid-19 exposure, or red zones, requiring everyone to "shelter in place."

Restrictions will remain in place also for lower risk areas and safe zones, but less strict than Directive 16 and more strict than Directive 15, the committee said.

Directive 15 requires suspension of social events, bans gatherings of 20 people or more in one place and of 10 people or more outside workplaces, schools and hospitals. A minimum distance of two meters between people in public places should be ensured.

Directive 16 requires people to stay home and only go out for basic necessities like buying food or medicines or to work at places that are still allowed to open.

Hanoi has recorded more than 3,600 community Covid-19 cases since the fourth coronavirus wave hit Vietnam in late April.

The capital has undergone several social distancing orders since late July but outbreaks have been more unpredictable than earlier, with new clusters still being detected, showing gaps in the city's coronavirus control measures, Dinh Tien Dung, secretary of the municipal Party Committee, said last Sunday.

The city has six clusters that are still developing in a complicated fashion: Alley No.24 on Kim Dong Street, Giap Bat Ward in Hoang Mai District, Ngoc Ha market in Ba Dinh District, Van Mieu and Van Chuong wards in Dong Da District, Thanh Xuan Trung ward in Thanh Xuan District and Tan Lap Commune in Dan Phuong District.