HCMC – The Ministry of Health confirmed 86,990 new Covid infections today, February 27, with 24 of them imported and 86,966 locally infected. In addition, the northern province of Phu Tho updated 14,838 cases detected earlier to the national Covid tally management system.
The new domestic infections, which were up 8,996 cases day-on-day, were detected in 61 localities.
Hanoi continued to lead the country by the case number with 11,517 infections, followed by Quang Ninh with 5,997, Lang Son with 4,960, Hung Yen with 3,225 and Bac Ninh with 3,037.
Nghe An, Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho and Son La were among 12 localities reporting around 2,000-3,000 cases each. Other localities had fewer than 2,000 cases each, of which HCMC reported 1,969 new cases.
To date, Vietnam’s Covid tally has exceeded 3.3 million cases, including more than 2.4 million recoveries and over 40,000 deaths.
Today alone, nearly 35,900 Covid patients were announced to have recovered from the disease, while 94 Covid fatalities were confirmed, including 17 in Hanoi, seven in Nam Dinh and five each in Bac Giang, Binh Dinh and Thanh Hoa. Twenty-seven other provinces reported one to four Covid deaths each.
In related news, the Ministry of Health has completed procedures to procure the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children aged between five and 11 and asked cities and provinces to prepare for the vaccination of this age group, Thanh Nien Online newspaper reported.
According to the ministry, as of February 26, up to 99% of people aged 18 and older have got one Covid vaccine shot, 98% have received the second shot and some 32% have got the third shot.
In addition, 99% of children aged between 12 and 17 have got the first shot and 94% have received the second shot.
As for children aged five and 11, the Government had approved the procurement of 21.9 million doses of the Pfizer Covid vaccine.
Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen said the ministry had suggested Pfizer provide the vaccine no later than April 30.
The ministry has also asked medical centers of localities to ensure safety during the vaccination of children and complete administering the second shot to children aged between 12 and 17 this month.
Meanwhile, the administering of the booster shot to adults must be completed this quarter.
