The event is expected to see 30,000 people and receive at least 8,000 units of blood for over 170 hospitals in the northern region.

Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said he hoped provinces and cities nationwide continue to response and organise the festival while calling on people to participate in blood donation campaigns in the year to save lives.

A conference was also to review the annual festival over the past ten years.

The festival also included several activities such as a music festival, an exhibition on 10 years of the festival and game shows, with the performance of many famous artists and singers.

In response to the call for post-Tet (Lunar New Year) blood donations and to celebrate 10 years of the Red Spring Festival, on February 17, more than 600 health workers from 20 Hanoi-based hospitals joined a parade along streets in the capital to call for blood donations to save lives.

Earlier on February 12-13, about 1,000 volunteers from the Hanoi Association of Youth Blood Donor Recruiters took to the streets to encourage people to involve in the festival.

The festival has received nearly 51,000 blood units from voluntary donors since its first in 2008.