HCMC – Vietnam’s daily Covid case count surged by nearly 3,000 against yesterday to reach a new high of 34,737, including 14 imported cases and 34,723 domestic transmissions in all cities and provinces today, February 16.
Eleven localities reported over 1,000 fresh infections each. Hanoi took the lead with 3,888 cases, followed by Thai Nguyen with 2,497, Hai Duong with 1,598 and Quang Ninh with 1,536. The others included Haiphong, Phu Tho, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh and Nghe An.
The country’s Covid tally has reached over 2.6 million since the beginning of the outbreak.
Although the number of new infections surged, Covid fatalities fell significantly. This afternoon, the Ministry of Health confirmed 66 more Covid deaths, taking the nation’s death toll to 39,188. Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Danang, Quang Nam and Vinh Long reported the most fatalities today.
To date, nearly 2.25 million Covid patients in the country have fully recovered, while there are currently some 2,800 critically ill patients.
The country has administered nearly 186.9 million doses of Covid vaccine nationwide so far, with some 74.8 million people having got two shots and more than 32.8 million people triple-dosed.
In related news, although the entire HCMC remains at the level 1 of Covid risk (low risk), 37 out of its 312 wards and communes have seen their risk rise to level 2 (medium risk).
Among these 37 localities, 28 have their vaccine coverage rate lower than required, while three have recorded a Covid death rate of higher than 6 per 100,000 patients, according to the HCMC Department of Health.
The department asked communes and wards to speed up vaccination to reach the required coverage rate, raise public awareness on self-testing and quickly detect new infections in the community to reduce the rates of severe cases and deaths.
