Daily COVID-19 caseload continues to rise with over 14,500 new infections

The Health Ministry confirmed the detection of 14,599 new COVID-19 cases on December 8, an increase of 760 cases compared to the previous day, thereby pushing the overall tally during the ongoing wave to 1,349,270.

Among the latest infections, four cases were imported, with the rest being local transmissions. As a result, a total of 8,322 new transmissions were detected among the community.

The Health Ministry also confirmed 24,737 recoveries on the same day, thereby bringing the total number of recovered cases up to 1,036,393.

The country’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 26,930, or 2% of total cases.

Over 55.5 million people throughout the country have now been fully inoculated, while approximately 73.8 million people have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Moving forward, Ho Chi Minh City is set to administer additional and booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine to its residents from December 10, according to the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. This comes after the steering committee issued a document guiding the inoculation process on December 8.

According to this document, additional COVID-19 shots will be first provided for adults over the age of 18 who have been fully inoculated with the last jab at least 28 days earlier and are immunocompromised. Indeed, priority will be given to those aged over 50.

In the face of the great risk posed by the Omicron variant entering Vietnam, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has recently signed a telegraph to the chairs of provincial and municipal People's Committees relating to strengthening the enforcement of COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

The Ministry of Health has therefore asked localities to proactively outline scenarios and plans to be ready to respond to every COVID-19 pandemic situation if necessary.

It also urged provinces to speed up the progress of vaccination against COVID-19 for people aged 12 and older, with priority being given to those aged 50 years and older, along with those with underlying health problems, as soon as vaccines are properly distributed.

As of December 2, at least 27 countries and territories have recorded Omicron cases. However, Vietnam is yet to record the latest strain, although the risk of infection remains high, the Health Ministry said.