Vietnam reports additional 15,220 COVID-19 cases across 62 localities

The Health Ministry announced the detection of 15,220 new COVID-19 infections on December 14 across 62 cities and provinces nationwide, marking a fall of 146 from the previous day.

Of the total, Ca Mau province recorded the highest number of infections with 1,011, followed by Ho Chi Minh City at 991 and Tay Ninh at 931.

The past 24 hours has seen the deaths of a further 252 coronavirus patients, thereby pushing the death toll nationwide to 28,333, or 2% of all infections since the pandemic initially broke out last year.

Following the fourth wave of infections to hit the country in late April, more than 1.438 million cases have been detected whilst over one million people have recovered.

Most notably, over 58.6 million people in the country have now been fully inoculated, whilst more than 75 million people have received at least one vaccine dose.

The same day saw the Ministry of Health announce the discharge of a further 4,524 COVID-19 patients after they have fully recovered from the virus, thereby taking the total number of recoveries up to 1,060,436.

Ho Chi Minh City is in the process of calling all people suffering from underlying diseases to get vaccinated as soon as possible as they are the most vulnerable to COVID-19.

The majority of fatalities recorded across the southern city lately are among those over the age of 65, along with individuals suffering chronic diseases and those who have yet to be vaccinated.

Currently, the southern metropolis has already started offering booster shots for over 2,000 people and will speed up the inoculation rate of the third dose.

Simultaneously, it is in the process of reviewing all people who have not received any vaccine shots, he said, adding that authorities have faced difficulties in calling high-risk groups to get immunised against COVID-19.

The health sector in Ho Chi Minh City is currently focusing on high-risk groups in its fight to reduce related deaths.

It has made a list of all people over 65 suffering from underlying diseases who can go for regular testing and can receive timely treatment them should they get infected.