HCMC – The Ministry of Health confirmed 15,220 new Covid-19 infections this evening, December 14, including 17 imported cases and 15,203 domestic transmissions in 62 cities and provinces, falling by 146 cases from yesterday.
With 1,011 new infections, the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau led the country in terms of Covid case count in a single day for the first time, followed by HCMC with 991, Tay Ninh with 931, Binh Phuoc with 907, Hanoi with 837 and Dong Thap with 734.
Can Tho, Khanh Hoa, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Bac Lieu, Binh Dinh, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang and Tien Giang detected 402-692 cases each, while other cities and provinces had fewer than 400 new infections each.
With the fresh cases recorded today, the country’s domestic transmissions have amounted to 1,438,207 in the fourth Covid wave, which began in late April. Meanwhile, the total case number since the beginning of the outbreak late last year has reached 1,443,648, ranking 32nd among 223 countries and territories.
This afternoon, the Ministry of Health confirmed 252 more Covid deaths, taking the nation’s death toll to 28,333. The new deaths included 64 in HCMC, 28 in An Giang, 27 in Dong Nai, 18 in Binh Duong, 16 in Tay Ninh, 12 in Bac Lieu and 10 each in Dong Thap and Tien Giang. Seventeen other cities and provinces reported fewer than 10 deaths each.
To date, more than 1,060,000 Covid patients have fully recovered, while there are currently nearly 7,780 critically ill Covid patients in the country.
Vietnam has administered 133.6 million doses of Covid vaccines nationwide so far. Some 58.6 million people have got two shots.
According to the latest Vietnam Macro Monitoring report of the World Bank, after the Government lifted mobility restrictions, starting in early October, the number of new confirmed Covid cases has increased quickly, surpassing the number observed in the third quarter of this year.
With rising new infections, the number of new deaths has also picked up. However, the fatality rate, which is the ratio between confirmed deaths and confirmed cases, fell significantly from 2.5% in September to 2% in December.
“This fall is probably reflecting the effectiveness of the country’s rapid vaccination,” the World Bank said in the report.
The bank suggested that the policy of living with Covid involves continued vigilance and fast action by the authorities.
Although the case fatality rate is trending down, the numbers of new cases are rising. Thus, in addition to continuing the accelerated vaccination program, vigilance in social distancing, testing and quarantining is important to avoid a new wave of infections affecting lives and forcing new restrictive measures.
