HCMC – The country’s new Covid-19 infections today, December 15, rose by 319 cases over yesterday to reach 15,527, with five of them imported and 15,522 locally infected, according to the Ministry of Health.
The domestic infections were reported in 61 cities and provinces, with HCMC seeing the biggest number at 1,270 cases. Ca Mau, Ben Tre and Hanoi also had over 1,000 cases each, at 1,072, 1,035 and 1,024 cases, respectively.
In addition, 922 other cases were confirmed in Tay Ninh, 732 in Dong Thap, 720 in Can Tho, 594 in Vinh Long, 593 in Khanh Hoa, 579 in Soc Trang and 505 in Bac Lieu.
Dong Nai, Tien Giang, Binh Duong, Tra Vinh, Kien Giang, Hau Giang, Thua Thien-Hue, Binh Phuoc and Bac Ninh had 300-464 cases each. Other localities reported fewer than 300 cases each.
With the fresh cases recorded today, the country’s domestic transmissions have amounted to over 1.45 million in the fourth Covid wave, which began in late April, including over 1.06 million recoveries. Today alone, 2,992 Covid patients were announced to have recovered from Covid-19.
Meanwhile, 283 Covid fatalities were confirmed, including 74 in HCMC, with 11 of them being transferred from other localities; 27 in An Giang; 25 in Binh Duong; 23 cases detected on December 14 and 15 in Can Tho; 22 in Dong Nai; 18 in Tien Giang, 15 cases detected on December 14 and 15 in Vinh Long; and 10 in Long An. Fifteen other cities and provinces reported fewer than 10 deaths each.
At a meeting on the anti-Covid fight in HCMC on December 15, director of the municipal Department of Health Tang Chi Thuong said the Ministry of Health would add the proportion of people getting the booster shot as a criterion to assess the Covid-19 transmission risk.
The city last week started administering Covid-19 booster shots to residents who are at a high risk of Covid-19 infection.
Thuong also cited a report by the municipal Center for Disease Control to say that more than 37,000 people aged 18 and older in the city had yet to get Covid-19 vaccines.
Regarding the protection of high-risk people, as of December 14, Thu Duc City and 18 districts in the city have made the lists of people with a high risk of exposure to Covid-19, with Phu Nhuan, 4 and Binh Tan districts having the highest numbers of such people.
Over 7,300 of them have undergone Covid-19 tests and 97 have been found to be infected with Covid-19. They have been provided with treatment drugs, including Molnupiravir.
The city has been provided with an additional 25,000 pills of Molnupiravir and will continue providing the antiviral to Covid cases developing symptoms but prioritizing those at a higher risk.
Over the past week, the new caseload in the city was lower than that in the previous week. The number of Covid cases treated at home also fell from 85,000 to 76,000.
