Hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have discharged more than 25,000 coronavirus patients since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, a local disease control agency reported.

With more than 3,800 patients walked out of hospitals on Wednesday, the city has registered a total of 25,189 recovered people, the municipal Center for Disease Control (HCDC) announced on Thursday.

The city, which has recently recorded thousands of new coronavirus infections every day, is now treating 36,771 coronavirus-positive patients, including 875 critical cases supported by ventilators and 30 others undergoing ECMO intervention, the center said.

Except for a new epidemic spot detected in District 5 on Wednesday, 30 existing COVID-19 clusters have been under strict control, 14 others have found no fresh infections, and another eight have stopped being monitored, said the HCDC.  

More than five million local residents have had their samples collected for coronavirus testing, while 44,636 COVID-19 cases have been placed under quarantine, including 6,804 at centralized facilities and 37,832 at home, the center reported.

The city, whose population is around nine million, has administered nearly 1.31 coronavirus vaccine doses to residents, with the number of people receiving the first and second shots reaching 1,242,874 and 266,854 respectively, the HCDC reported on Thursday.

It has entered its fifth phase of vaccination since July 22, with a target of giving 930,000 jabs to people within two to three weeks.

With an aim to accelerate the immunization, the city plans to organize vaccination from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am the next day and people with required specific identifications will be allowed to leave home for the designated points for inoculation, the HCDC said.  

Such identifications will be issued, as city authorities have since Monday banned locals from going out during that period, except for emergencies, as a measure to better control the coronavirus spread.

The Ministry of Health on Thursday morning confirmed 2,821 new COVID-19 infections, of which 1,715 were detected in Ho Chi Minh City.

The latest count has taken the country’s tally since early 2020 to 123,640, including 121,433 domestic and 2,207 imported cases, of which 27,457 people have recovered.

Since April 27, when the pandemic’s fourth wave erupted in Vietnam, the nation has documented 119,863 cases, or 98.7 percent of the overall number.

During this wave, Ho Chi Minh City has registered nearly 79,700 patients, including 929 deaths, the municipal Center for Disease Control reported on Thursday.

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