"The Covid-19 situation at the hospital is basically under control," Quang told VnExpress Monday.

The hospital was deemed a Covid-19 hotspot and has been placed under a lockdown since last Friday. Its management isolated its departments and all medical staff, patients and family members have had samples taken for testing.

More than 3,400 people are in isolation at the hospital, of whom 599 people have had their second Covid-19 tests.

"Currently, the departments are still isolated. If more positive cases are found, they will only arise in the Department of Hepatology," Quang said.

It has been reported that a patient who’d earlier been treated for a month at the Hanoi-based National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, also under a lockdown now, is the one who introduced the infection at the K Hospital.

The oncology hospital has recorded 12 Covid-19 cases so far. All its three facilities in Hanoi have been isolated since last Friday morning.

The National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control said Monday morning that the outbreak at K Hospital was linked to community transmissions from the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

Dang Quang Tan, head of the ministry's General Department of Preventive Medicine, said contact tracing analysis showed that most of the infected cases at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases are patients’ family members and caregivers and not the medical staff.

Vietnam recorded the biggest ever daily tally of community transmissions Monday since the pandemic first broke out in the country more than a year ago at 125 new cases: 78 confirmed in the morning, 31 at noon and and 16 in the evening.

The nation has recorded 458 community transmissions in 26 cities and provinces since April 27, including 143 cases in Hanoi, as the country experiences its most challenging Covid-19 outbreak yet.

 Chi Le