HCMC – The Ministry of Health confirmed 13,109 new Covid-19 infections this evening, November 26, the highest single-day Covid tally over the past 78 days.
The new infections included 15 imported cases and 13,094 domestic transmissions in 60 cities and provinces.
Ten southern cities and provinces detected over 500 new Covid cases each, with HCMC taking the lead at 1,809, followed by Can Tho with 897, Binh Duong with 707, Tay Ninh with 655, Ba Ria – Vung Tau with 653, Dong Thap with 601, Bac Lieu with 566, Dong Nai with 556, Vinh Long with 536 and Ben Tre with 501.
Binh Thuan, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, An Giang, Ca Mau and Tra Vinh recorded 309-496 cases each, while other cities and provinces had fewer than 300 new infections each.
With the fresh cases recorded today, the country’s domestically transmitted cases have amounted to 1,176,148 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 1,181,337, ranking 37th among 223 countries and territories.
This afternoon, the Ministry of Health confirmed 137 more Covid deaths, taking the nation’s death toll to 24,544. The new deaths included 60 in HCMC, 13 each in Tien Giang and An Giang, nine in Tay Ninh, eight in Binh Thuan, seven in Kien Giang, and four each in Soc Trang and Vinh Long. Eleven other cities and provinces reported one to three fatalities each.
To date, over 955,250 Covid patients have fully recovered, while there are currently some 5,450 critically ill Covid patients in the country.
Vietnam has administered 116.3 million doses of Covid vaccines nationwide so far. Some 47.3 million people have got two shots.
Amid complicated developments of the pandemic, Vietnam has received strong support from the international community during the Covid fight.
Earlier this week, German Ambassador to Vietnam Guido Hildner handed over 75 ventilators, 15 monitors and 20,000 pulse oxygen meters worth VND21 billion in total to the Hanoi Medical University Hospital.
Hildner expected that the equipment will help Vietnam with intensive medical treatment for critically ill Covid patients and contribute to their recovery.
“We can only overcome the pandemic together. Germany will continue to support Vietnam to the best of its ability in the fight against the pandemic,” he said.
Vietnam has also received more medicines and vaccines from Japan recently.
On November 25, Vietnam received an additional one million Covid-19 antiviral pills from Japan. Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said the antiviral was new to Vietnam and would be used for patients with mild symptoms.
On the same day, 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine donated by the Japanese Government arrived in Vietnam, taking Japan’s total vaccine donations to Vietnam so far to 5.6 million doses.
In related news, HCMC has rejected a rumor recently becoming viral on the social media that it will impose a two-week lockdown, during which all supermarkets in the city will be closed and the citizens are prohibited from leaving their home.
The HCMC steering committee for Covid infection prevention and control said this is false information, adding that the city has sped up vaccination and the Covid situation is still under control.
