Health staff collect nasal swabs from people for COVID-19 tests in Da Nang, Vietnam. Photo: Truong Trung / Tuoi Tre
The Ministry of Health registered 14,977 additional coronavirus cases across Vietnam on Monday, together with 1,937 recoveries and 225 pathogen-related mortalities.
The latest infections, including 11 imported and 14,966 domestic transmissions, were recorded in 61 provinces and cities, the ministry said, noting that 9,000 patients were infected in the community.
Hanoi documented 1,612 of the newest local cases, Ben Tre Province 985, Ca Mau Province 967, Tay Ninh Province 947, Can Tho City 773, Khanh Hoa Province 709, Ho Chi Minh City 687, Binh Dinh Province 411, Dong Nai Province 284, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province 273, Thua Thien-Hue Province 228, Binh Thuan Province 222, Lam Dong Province 174, Binh Duong Province 155, Da Nang 142, Quang Ninh Province 136, Quang Nam Province 129, Hai Phong City 95, and Ha Giang Province 85.
Vietnam had confirmed 16,093 locally-acquired infections on Sunday.
The country has recorded 1,549,945 community transmissions in all its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth virus wave erupted on April 27. A combined 1,107,082 of them have recovered from COVID-19.
Ho Chi Minh City is still the epicenter with 495,370 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 289,330, Dong Nai Province with 95,212, Tay Ninh Province with 64,961, Long An Province with 39,709, Dong Thap Province with 36,404, Can Tho City with 34,128, Tien Giang Province with 31,262, An Giang Province with 29,624, Hanoi with 25,879, Khanh Hoa Province with 24,310, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 23,944, Binh Thuan Province with 23,435, and Da Nang with 9,447.
Vietnam reported only 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves.
The health ministry logged 1,937 recovered patients on Monday, raising the total to 1,109,899.
The toll has increased to 29,791 fatalities after the ministry reported 225 deaths on the same day, including 56 in Ho Chi Minh City, 30 in Dong Nai Province, 22 in An Giang Province, 16 in Binh Duong Province, 14 in Ben Tre Province, and the remainder in 20 other provinces and cities.
Vietnam has detected 1,555,455 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the country early last year.
Health workers have administered upwards of 139.4 million vaccine doses, including 696,414 shots on Sunday, since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8.
Above 75.8 million of the country’s 98 million people have received at least one dose while over 62.2 million have been jabbed twice.
The number of third doses – including additional primary shots for immunocompromised people, boosters, and third jabs of Cuba’s Abdala vaccine – has reached 1,298,208.
Vietnam targets to fully inoculate 100 percent of its adult population this year. Many provinces and cities are immunizing children aged 12-17 against COVID-19, using Pfizer-BioNTech shots.