Vietnam warns of hospitals strain as Covid-19 cases spike after holiday

Students walk into a school in Hanoi on Feb 8 as Covid-19 norms have been relaxed and schools reopened. - Reuters

HANOI (Reuters): Vietnam warned on Thursday (Feb 10) that its healthcare system could become overloaded, after seeing a surge in new daily coronavirus infections following its week-long Lunar New Year holiday.

The country reported nearly 24,000 new cases on Wednesday, compared to about 15,000 per day in the week before the annual holiday, when millions of people travelled to their rural homes and to tourist hotspots.