HCMC – The Ministry of Health this evening, August 18 confirmed 8,800 fresh Covid-19 cases, including 12 imported cases and 8,788 domestic ones in 42 provinces and cities, down 807 cases against yesterday, and 298 Covid-19 deaths.
HCMC as the biggest coronavirus hotspot took the lead in the case number, at 3,731 cases, up 172 cases against yesterday, while Binh Duong Province saw the new infections fall by 819 at 2,513.
Dong Nai, Long An, Tien Giang, Danang, Kien Giang, An Giang and Tay Ninh detected over 100 infections each, while the remaining cases were recorded in 33 other localities.
The new locally-infected cases have raised the country’s domestic infection tally in the latest wave since late April to 298,064 cases in 62 of the country’s 63 provinces and cities.
As many as 3,751 patients were discharged from hospitals today, taking the country’s total recoveries to 115,059.
Among the 298 Covid-19 deaths, HCMC accounted for the most, at 255. Twenty other fatalities were reported in Binh Duong, 11 in Long An, two each in Can Tho, Ben Tre, Vinh Long and one each in Danang, Bac Giang, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, Dong Thap and Kien Giang.
In related news, the Dong Nai General Hospital has put one more Covid-19 treatment area into operation. The treatment area, with a capacity of 100 beds, will admit and treat patients with mild symptoms.
Dr Ngo Duc Tuan, director of the hospital, said that the hospital had earlier set up a treatment area with 50 beds for severe patients.
Due to the rising number of infections in Dong Nai, Hospital K in Hanoi City has dispatched 25 doctors and nurses to the province to help it fight off the pandemic. These medical workers were tasked with working at the Covid-19 intensive care center in the province.
In addition, 170 medical workers from Bach Mai Hospital this morning traveled to HCMC to join the city’s fight against Covid-19.
The hospital has sent a total of 500 medical workers to the southern region for the Covid fight.
HCMC is treating over 32,660 Covid-19 patients, with some 2,000 children, over 2,250 put on ventilators and 16 others requiring ECMO support.
Over the past four days, the city has found no new infection clusters, but is still monitoring 17 existing clusters, the local media reported.
In the ongoing fourth wave of the pandemic, the health ministry has mobilized over 11,400 medical workers and over 6,000 medical students and lecturers to travel to HCMC and other southern provinces and cities to join the Covid-19 fight, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said today.
Besides, many northern and central provinces have dispatched more than 1,730 doctors and nurses to the southern region to help it suppress the pandemic.
