Vietnam has recorded almost 5,500 domestic COVID-19 cases over the past six weeks as it is battling the fourth wave of infections.

The country had spent nearly a month finding zero patients in the community when it detected the first infection on April 27, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

Health authorities have since recorded 5,460 locally-transmitted cases, including 39 patients the ministry confirmed on Sunday morning, in 39 out of the nation’s 63 provinces and cities.

By comparison, Vietnam confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021. 

Bac Giang Province has logged 2,989 patients in the current round, followed by Bac Ninh Province with 1,061, Hanoi with 434, Ho Chi Minh City with 355, and Da Nang with 158.

Ho Chi Minh City, which is Vietnam’s busiest economic hub, has imposed enhanced social distancing since Monday amid rising domestic infections.

Vietnam has registered 8,580 patients, including 3,310 recoveries and 53 deaths, since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the country on January 23, 2020, according to the Ministry of Health’s data.

The Southeast Asian nation has administered 1,243,304 vaccine doses to medical staff and other frontline workers since it rolled out mass inoculation on March 8, the ministry said.

The government is quarantining almost 184,000 people who either came into close contact with infected patients or entered Vietnam from virus-struck regions.

More than 33,600 people have been fully vaccinated against the respiratory disease.

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