The number of coronavirus-related deaths has been rising in Ho Chi Minh City, with most victims being elderly citizens or those who refused to get vaccinated.

The southern city recorded between 50 and 62 COVID-19 deaths each day from Saturday to Tuesday, according to Ministry of Health statistics.

Prior to this increase, the city only logged less than 30 fatalities a day for nearly a month.

The COVID-19 mortality rate in Ho Chi Minh City is currently at 3.8 percent, the highest in Vietnam. The overall mortality rate of the country stood at 2.2 percent only.

At a press meeting on Monday, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, an official from the municipal Department of Health, stated that the city registered a total of 151 coronavirus-related fatalities from November 19 to 21, of whom 75 percent were either unvaccinated or had received only one shot.

The increase in COVID-19 patients in the city has led to rising deaths, Mai continued.

Despite a high vaccination rate, about 15-20 percent of the new patients suffer severe symptoms, while five percent are in critical conditions, she elaborated.

Another health official told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that most COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths occur among elderly residents and those who refused to get jabbed.

More than 50 percent of the deceased patients recorded over the past days were unvaccinated, he added.

In many elderly patients, underlying conditions and old age are the main causes of their deaths, while COVID-19 only acted as an agent.

Another reason for rising COVID-19 deaths in Ho Chi Minh City is that many patients were sent from other provinces, the official continued.

About five to six seriously-ill coronavirus patients are transferred from other localities to major hospitals in the city on a daily basis, he added.

Amid surging cases, authorities are planning to mobilize an additional 390 doctors and nurses from 16 local hospitals to assist medical staff at COVID-19 treatment facilities.

Ho Chi Minh City has been the hardest-hit locality in Vietnam since the fourth wave began on April 27, with nearly 460,000 infections.

Municipal authorities had implemented various levels of social distancing measures since May 31 before loosening restrictions in October, as the majority of adults had been inoculated against the coronavirus.

As of Tuesday, health workers had administered over 14 million vaccine doses, with more than 6.1 million out of nine million citizens fully jabbed.

Cases are on the rise as the city has been logging about 1,000 to 1,600 new infections daily over the past days.

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