COVID-19 infections rise to over 16,800 across 62 localities

A total 16,815 new COVID-19 infections were recorded on February 7 across 61 cities and provinces nationwide, up more than 2,700 from the previous day, according to the latest report compiled by the Ministry of Health.

Of the figures, Hanoi recorded the highest number of infections with 2,988, followed by Nghe An at 1,247, and Da Nang at 935.

The past 24 hours has also seen the deaths of 92 COVID-19 patients, thereby pushing the death toll nationwide to more than 38,424, or 1.6% of all infections since the pandemic initially broke out last year.

Following the fourth wave of infections which hit the country in late April, more than 2.18 million cases have since been detected, whilst over 1.92 million people have gone on to fully recover from the virus.

The same day also witnessed the Ministry of Health announce the discharge of a further 9,665 COVID-19 patients after they had made a full recovery from the virus, thereby taking the total number of recoveries up to 2,122,380.

By February 6, the country had injected over 182.4 million vaccine doses, with over 79.1 million people now fully inoculated, while more than 29 million booster shots have also been administered.

The Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control of districts have been asked to prepare plans to respond to COVID-19 infections in schools. They are authorized to decide on the closure of schools if necessary.
Earlier the Government decided to purchase 21.9 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 12.

This comes after the Hanoi People's Committee decided to allow students from grades seven to 12 to return to school from February 8.