The capital city confirmed its first case of community-transmitted Omicron COVID-19 variant on January 26.

On Wednesday, authorities confirmed the first case of Omicron in Hanoi not in a person arriving from overseas. Vũ Cao Cương, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Health, explained that a hotel worker tested positive for the variant after contact with 13 individuals arriving from abroad. Cương further explained that the individual is in isolation currently and they do not expect a larger outbreak on account of the situation and the individual is in stable condition.

Before this development, Hanoi had registered 14 cases of the variant, all amongst people arriving on flights that were subsequently quarantined. Meanwhile, Saigon has recorded 139 Omicron cases, though all but five are from international arrivals. 

Late last year, Hanoi authorities issued plans to deal with the inevitable arrival of the variant. The strategies focus mainly on increased testing on arrivals from abroad and ensuring hospital beds and associated medical staff are available. This is the first case of the Omicron variant in the public in Hanoi. 

While medical communities are still divided on the efficacy of current vaccines in combating the newest variant of COVID-19, a reported 100% of Vietnamese adults are immunized with their first vaccine dose, and deaths are very low.