HCMC – The Ministry of Health this evening, November 2, confirmed 5,637 fresh Covid-19 cases, marking the fourth straight day that the country’s daily Covid caseload stayed over 5,000.
Among the latest infections, 24 were imported and 5,613 were domestic infections in 52 cities and provinces, up 12 cases over yesterday.
Of the new locally-infected cases, Dong Nai took the lead in the case number at 858, up 201 cases day-on-day, followed by Binh Duong with 780.
The daily case count reported in HCMC dropped by 245 cases against yesterday at 682, while Bac Lieu detected 316, An Giang, 314, Tien Giang, 202, Soc Trang, 165, Binh Thuan, 164, Can Tho, 146, Tay Ninh, 131, Long An, 116, and Bac Ninh, 115. Other localities reported fewer than 100 cases each.
The new infections have raised the country’s Covid tally to 932,357, including 927,494 domestic infections having been reported in the ongoing fourth wave of the pandemic, which began in late April.
Over 2,740 Covid patients were discharged from hospitals nationwide today, taking the total recoveries to 824,806.
The ministry also confirmed 74 more Covid fatalities, including 31 in HCMC, 19 in Binh Duong, six in An Giang, four each in Kien Giang and Dong Nai, three in Long An, two each in Can Tho and Tien Giang and one each in Tay Ninh, Khanh Hoa and Daklak. Vietnam’s Covid death toll stands at 22,205.
Besides, over 1.2 million doses of the Covid vaccine were administered today, raising the total doses given to people nationwide to more than 83 million.
As of October 31, over 445,000 children aged between 12 and 17 in HCMC had received one shot of the Covid vaccine, meeting over 50% of its target, the HCMC anti-pandemic steering committee told a press briefing on November 1.
Among the children getting vaccinated, 42 suffered mild reactions to the Covid vaccine, the local media reported.
The city’s health authority is planning to vaccinate children aged 3 or older in 2022 to soon bring all students back to school.
In another development, as of this morning, Ben Tre Province had achieved over 70% first dose vaccine coverage for all residents aged over 18. The province will start inoculating children aged over 3 and administer the third and fourth Covid-19 vaccine shots to fully vaccinated people in 2022.
Ben Tre Province has over 263,000 children 3 to 17 years of age, so the locality will need some 580,000 doses of the Covid vaccine.
Over 692,500 people in the Mekong Delta province have received one shot of the vaccine, while 241,800 others are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.