Vietnam reports nearly 16,000 new infections, over 24,460 recoveries

The Ministry of Health confirmed a further 15,936 new COVID-19 cases nationwide on January 3 to bring the national tally since the start of the pandemic up to 1,778,976.

Of the new cases, a total of 11,017 were found within the local community and 20 were imported.

Hanoi currently tops the daily case list with over 2,100 new cases, followed by Hai Phong with 1,749 infections and Tay Ninh with 919 cases.

The COVID-19 pandemic has now spread to most districts throughout Hanoi, with a growing number of community-acquired cases.

The average number of new cases in the country over the past seven days has stood at 15,629 a day, while the national death rate has been at a daily average of 222.

The Health Ministry also confirmed 24,461 further recoveries on the same day, thereby taking the total number of recovered cases up to more than 1.397 million.

A further 190 casualties were also confirmed over the past 24 hours to raise the country’s death toll to 33,021, thereby making the nation rank 26th out of 224 countries and territories for deaths worldwide.

As of January 2, more than 153 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19, including over 69.2 million people who have received two jabs, and over 6.5 million who have been given their booster shots.

Since the fourth wave of the pandemic hit in late April, the country has recorded 1,773,170 local cases, of which more than 1.394 million patients have since been declared free from the virus.

In another move, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has signed the Prime Minister’s Directive aimed at intensifying measures on care for and the protection of children impacted by COVID-19.

The move will see the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) work with other ministries and agencies to propose measures relating to the care and protection of orphans, as well as orphans caused by the pandemic, in line with the law. This will contribute to raising public awareness of efforts to uphold the role of society and the residential community in the process, thus ensuring comprehensive growth of children.

The MoLISA has also been asked to regularly report the implementation of the Directive to the PM.