The Ministry of Health has decided to set up three field hospitals in Hai Duong province to cope with the increasing number of coronavirus infections there, says Minister Nguyen Thanh Long.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long vows to help Hai Duong stamp out the outbreak.

As many as 84 COVID-19 patients have been confirmed in Hai Duong during the past 24 hours, turning the northern province, a gateway to Hanoi capital, into the country’s biggest coronavirus hotspot at present.

The number of infections is expected to keep increasing, and Hai Duong should be well prepared to treat those patients, said Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long at an online meeting on January 28 with leaders of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh provinces.

The three field hospitals will be formed at the provincial General Hospital, the provincial Medical Technical University, and the provincial stadium.

The provincial General Hospital will be equipped with an intensive care unit (ICU) to ensure it can treat seriously ill patients as the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases does.

The second field hospital will receive assistance from Bach Mai hospital, the largest in northern Vietnam, while the third one will receive all facilities from Da Nang field hospital which was set up to treat hundreds of patients during the second coronavirus outbreak.

Minister Long also said the ministry has dispatched a group of experienced doctors from Da Nang to assist colleagues in Hai Duong province. These doctors had experience in treating COVID-19 patients and conducting contact tracing when the virus re-emerged there last August.

“Hai Duong should contact relevant units to get down to work on these plans right tonight,” Long said. “We think the situation in Hai Duong is critically serious. The Ministry of Health is providing every assistance in an effort to early stamp out the outbreak here.”

At present Hai Duong has three testing labs, of which one is entitled to confirm the results.