10,585 fresh COVID-19 cases recorded, with HCM City down by over 1,000

The overall number of infections during the latest wave of the pandemic rose to more than 641,000 following an additional 10, 585 COVID-19 cases being detected by the Ministry of Health on September 15.

Of the daily tally, 5,926 cases were found within the community with unclear sources of transmission, while the rest were contained in quarantine and lockdown areas.

Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s biggest epicenter, continued to report the highest number of infections at 5,301, a fall of 1,011 from the previous day.

The three localities recording the highest case numbers were Binh Duong with 3,228, Dong Nai with 808, and Long An with 424.

Following these latest cases, the nation is ranked 47th out of 222 countries and regions in terms of total infections, although it stands at 156th in terms of infections per one million people.

Furthermore, 250 deaths were confirmed over the past 24 hours, thereby raising the death toll to 16,186, or 2.5% of all detected infections.

A total of 14,189 COVID-19 patients were declared free from the virus after going on to make a full recovery, increasing the overall number of recoveries to 412, 650.

Moreover, more than 31.2 million people have now received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, with over 5.83 million people now being fully vaccinated.

Ho Chi Minh City is set to continue imposing the Government’s Directive 16 throughout the second half of September, although it will ease lockdown in some districts where the pandemic situation is now stable.

The southern city has so far yielded some positive results, although it is yet to meet all of its the targets set out by the Health Ministry.

According to Phan Van Mai, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, the city will move to ease restrictions step by step as it aims to strike a balance between combating the pandemic and sustaining essential social activities.

In another move, the Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee signed a dispatch regarding the adjustment of some pandemic containment measures in the capital.

This will see Hanoi reopen some services starting from 12:00 on September 16 in some areas.