The Hanoi Department of Education and Training said students from kindergarten to high school levels, including those in continuing education and foreign language centers, may resume their studies from July 10 to July 24, according to a proposal to the municipal People's Committee.

If approved, schools would reopen for their students to finish the second term of the 2020-2021 school year. Coronavirus control measures would still need to be applied.

As Vietnam experiences its fourth Covid-19 wave that hit in late April, Hanoi allowed around two million students of all levels to take an early summer vacation starting May 15. Students could study online during the vacation to finish their curriculum.

At the time, the capital had recorded only 169 local Covid-19 cases in the new wave, including 100 contained within the locked down National Hospital for Tropical Diseases and K Hospital. The coronavirus tally had briefly stopped at 468 cases by late June.

But new Covid-19 infections this week have broken Hanoi's nine-day streak without community transmissions, with one case recorded Monday and nine on Tuesday. The cases, a family of five in My Duc District, a taxi driver in Hoang Mai District and a group of people working in the Thang Long industrial park of Dong An District, have brought the capital's tally to 478.

Over two months into the new wave, Vietnam has recorded 17,820 community infections in 55 of its 63 cities and provinces.

Duong Tam