HCMC – The Ministry of Health confirmed 16,035 new Covid infections this evening, January 11, including 16 imported cases and 16,019 domestic transmissions in all cities and provinces nationwide, increasing by nearly 1,300 cases against yesterday.
Hanoi reported the most infections, at 2,884, followed by Khanh Hoa with 782, Ca Mau with 762, Binh Dinh with 671 and Binh Phuoc with 667.
HCMC, Danang, Haiphong, Ben Tre and Tay Ninh detected 462-558 new infections each, while other cities and provinces had fewer than 400 cases each.
The country’s domestic transmissions have amounted to over 1.924 million in the fourth Covid wave, which began in late April 2021, and over 1.930 million cases in total, ranking 28th among 223 countries and territories.
Up to now, Vietnam has found 31 people with the Omicron variant, all arriving from abroad.
This afternoon, the Ministry of Health confirmed 256 more Covid deaths, mostly in southern cities and provinces such as HCMC, Long An, Dong Nai, Kien Giang, Dong Thap and Vinh Long, taking the nation’s death toll to 34,787.
To date, nearly 1.6 million Covid patients in the country have fully recovered, while there are currently more than 6,300 critically ill Covid patients.
The country has administered more than 162 million doses of Covid vaccines nationwide so far, with some 71.3 million people having got two shots.
In related news, an emergency relief project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was launched by the Vietnam Red Cross Society in Thua Thien-Hue Province on January 10 to support people affected by the Covid pandemic in Vietnam’s central region.
The project, worth US$1 million, is being carried out in 40 communes of 10 central localities including Danang, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen from now until April 2022.
This emergency response program aims to help pandemic-hit local residents overcome difficulties and stabilize their lives soon, as well as to prevent the spread of Covid in flood-affected communities.
Each city or province selects four communes hit the hardest by the pandemic, as well as floods in late 2020, to implement the project. It is expected that over 12,000 poor and near-poor households with over 37,300 people will benefit from the project.
This USAID-funded project will provide food coupons for disadvantaged people and raise public awareness of hygiene and clean water, thus helping prevent and slow down Covid transmission.
A recent survey by the Vietnam Red Cross Society on over 500 households in 43 districts of the 10 central localities showed that 55% lost incomes from farming or fishing, 28% lost revenues from small business, 26% lost their jobs, and 23% suffered underemployment. As a result, 82% of the households need cash or vouchers to make ends meet and 49% need support to restore their livelihoods.
