HCMC – The Ministry of Health confirmed 16,378 new Covid infections today, January 17, including 53 imported cases and 16,325 domestic transmissions in 62 cities and provinces nationwide, increasing by over 680 cases against yesterday.
Hanoi reported the most infections, at 2,955, followed by Danang with 924, Hung Yen with 675, Binh Dinh with 640, Haiphong with 638 and Binh Phuoc with 609.
Ben Tre, Khanh Hoa, Bac Ninh, Tra Vinh, Daklak and Ca Mau detected 403-588 new infections each, while other cities and provinces had fewer than 400 cases each.
In addition, the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau added 5,355 cases reported earlier to the national Covid case count management system.
The country’s domestic transmissions have amounted to some 2.039 million in the fourth Covid wave, which began in late April 2021, and over 2.045 million cases in total, ranking 28th among 223 countries and territories.
Up to now, Vietnam has found 68 people with the Omicron variant, with nearly half of them (30 cases) reported in HCMC.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), new variants like Omicron are a reminder that the Covid pandemic is far from over. It is therefore essential that people get the vaccine when available to them and continue to follow existing advice on preventing the spread of the virus.
It is also crucial that vaccines and other public health measures are accessible everywhere.
This afternoon, the Ministry of Health confirmed 179 more Covid deaths, mostly in HCMC, An Giang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Hanoi, Tien Giang, Vinh Long and Kien Giang, taking the nation’s death toll to 35,788.
To date, nearly 1.75 million Covid patients in the country have fully recovered, while there are currently over 6,200 critically ill Covid patients.
The country has administered almost 170 million doses of Covid vaccines nationwide so far, with some 72.4 million people having got two shots and 17.9 million people triple-dosed.
At present, seven localities are still identified as areas with a high risk of Covid transmission, or “orange zones”. They include Haiphong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Dinh, Hau Giang, Thua Thien-Hue, Tay Ninh and Vinh Long.
Twenty-three other localities are classified as “yellow zones” (medium risk) and the remaining localities are ”green zones” (low risk).
