A passenger has her body temperature checked before going inside a coach station in Hanoi. The Ministry of Health has reported 40 new locally-infected Covid-19 cases and six imported ones - PHOTO: VNA

HCMC - The Ministry of Health this evening, May 7, confirmed 46 new Covid-19 cases, including six imported cases and 40 community-transmitted cases, with Hanoi reporting the most number of Covid-19 cases of 24.

Of the total cases in Hanoi, 11 were found at the Tan Trieu Campus of K Hospital.

The remaining cases were detected in Danang, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Dien Bien, Ha Nam, Nghe An, Nam Dinh, Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc, the local media reported.

Meanwhile, among the six imported Covid-19 cases, two were found in HCMC, two in Danang, one in Quang Tri and one in Binh Thuan.

At an online meeting of the national steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control today, both Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long shared the view that this Covid-19 wave was more complicated than three previous waves.

Deputy PM Dam said the pandemic had spread to 15 localities and some hotspots were Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, Danang, and the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases and K Hospital in Hanoi.

Sources of infection of some hotspots, such as Danang, Hai Duong and Hanoi, remain unknown.

In addition, the Indian coronavirus variant is stronger and more transmissible.

Dam added that Hanoi and HCMC had suspended some services with high risks of Covid-19 infection, while some other provinces which had reported several cases only had implemented social distancing measures. Localities should balance the economic development with the pandemic prevention and control.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Long said there were various hotspots, sources of infection and coronavirus variants.

He asked localities to lock down pandemic-hit areas on the smallest possible scale to ensure the economic development while fighting the pandemic.