HCMC – The Ministry of Health reported 13,670 new Covid-19 infections this evening, December 3, plus 822 more infections updated by the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to the national Covid case management system.
Among the new cases reported by the Ministry of Health, nine were imported and 13,661 were domestic transmissions, detected in 59 cities and provinces, down 16 cases day-on-day.
HCMC reported the most infections, at 1,311, followed by Can Tho with 982, Hanoi and Soc Trang with 791 each, Tay Ninh with 779 and Dong Thap with 608.
In addition, 581 cases were confirmed in Binh Thuan, 571 in Ben Tre, 564 in Vinh Long and 560 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Dong Nai, Ca Mau, Binh Phuoc, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Binh Duong, An Giang, Tra Vinh and Binh Dinh had 204-496 cases each.
Other cities and provinces reported fewer than 200 cases each.
With the fresh cases recorded today, the country’s domestically transmitted cases have amounted to nearly 1.3 million in the fourth Covid wave, including more than one million patients who have fully recovered.
Today alone, 1,149 Covid-19 patients were released from hospitals.
Meanwhile, 200 more Covid deaths were confirmed, taking the nation’s death toll to 25,858.
The new deaths included 68 in HCMC, including seven cases transferred from other provinces to the city; 22 in Dong Nai; 16 in An Giang, 14 in Binh Duong, 13 in Can Tho and 10 in Tay Ninh. Sixteen other cities and provinces reported fewer than 10 deaths each.
In related news, the HCMC government has allowed restaurants and eateries in low or moderate-risk areas to continue offering alcoholic drinks on a pilot basis until December 31 and eliminated the requirement that they must shut before 10 p.m.
The decision was made following a proposal by the municipal Department of Industry and Trade.
The city also assigned chairpersons of Thu Duc City and districts to enhance unannounced inspections into restaurants and eateries offering alcoholic drinks and impose heavy sanctions on those failing to comply with anti-pandemic measures.
After the pilot, the governments of Thu Duc City and districts must report the results of the pilot to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade and the municipal government.
On November 16, the HCMC government allowed restaurants and eateries in low or moderate-risk areas to offer alcoholic drinks until November 30 but they must meet Covid-19 safety requirements and shut before 10 p.m.
In high-risk areas, the alcoholic drink ban remained in place and restaurants could only operate at half capacity. In extremely high-risk areas, restaurants were prohibited from providing dine-in services.
Elsewhere, Thua Thien-Hue Province has worked out a plan to treat Covid-19 cases at home due to an increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases, director of the provincial Department of Health Tran Kiem Hao said.
Firstly, it has established 16 teams to help communes and wards in vaccination and testing and train them to take care of Covid-19 patients at home.
Over the past week, Thua Thien-Hue had more than 120 Covid cases per day, raising its caseload in the fourth wave to over 3,600.
In Ha Tinh Province, 10 out of 13 districts have also treated Covid cases at homes. In addition, direct contacts of Covid-19 cases and those returning from areas with a high and extremely high risk of pandemic transmission have been quarantined at homes.
Since June 4, the province has recorded nearly 1,200 Covid-19 cases.
The treatment of asymptomatic Covid-19 patients and those with mild symptoms at home was firstly conducted in HCMC and southern localities. Many other localities, such as Hanoi, Danang, Cao Bang, Phu Tho and Nghe An, have later applied the solution.
