Vietnam reports additional 14,839 COVID-19 cases across 57 localities

The Health Ministry announced a further 14,839 COVID-19 infections on December 10 across 57 cities and provinces nationwide, marking a fall of 481 cases from the previous day.

The majority of the new cases were found in Ho Chi Minh City, with 1,226, trailed by the southern provinces of Sóc Trăng and Tay Ninh with 894 cases, and 893 infections, respectively.

Over the course of the past 24 hours, a total of 216 COVID-19 patients have died, thereby pushing the death toll in the nation up to 27,402 or 2% of all infections since the pandemic broke out last year.

During the latest wave that hit the country in late April, over 1.37 million cases have been reported, with 1.04 million of them going on to fully recover.

So far, more than 56 million people have been fully vaccinated nationwide.

The Health Ministry also confirmed 1,362 recoveries the same day, bringing the total number of recovered cases so far to 1,052,341.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen, the nation is seeking consultation from relevant agencies on COVID-19 vaccination for children aged five to 11, while the Health Ministry is conducting negotiations with vaccine manufacturers and suppliers to secure vaccines for children of this age group.

Deputy Minister Tuyen affirmed that the nation now has sufficient COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate people over the age of 18 and children aged 12 to 17, in addition to booster shots for adults.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister has urged the Health Ministry to further speed up the country’s vaccine rollout as the nation looks set to complete the inoculation of adults, individuals aged 18 and above, with two jabs by December 15.

Moreover the nation aims to provide adults with booster shots before June, 2022, with priority being given to senior citizens aged 50 and older and frontline workers.

Amid complicated developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of new variants, the country will continue stepping up vaccine diplomacy in the near future to meet demand next year.

At present, the nation is now among the group of countries to boast a high vaccination rate, which has considerably reduced the negative impacts of the pandemic, thereby laying a solid foundation for the country to enter a period of safe and flexible adaptation to COVID-19 and economic recovery.