Vietnam’s Ministry of Health reported 16,515 COVID-19 cases throughout the country on Friday, while logging 18,642 recoveries and 226 mortalities.

The latest infections, including 39 imported and 16,476 domestic transmissions, were recorded in 60 provinces and cities, the ministry said, adding that 11,337 patients caught the pathogen in the community.

Hanoi registered 1,914 of the newest local cases, Vinh Long Province 1,080, Ca Mau Province 1,063, Binh Phuoc Province 1,003, Khanh Hoa Province 799, Tay Ninh Province 776, Tra Vinh Province 571, Ho Chi Minh City 557, Hai Phong City 520, Thua Thien-Hue Province 404, Can Tho City 293, Lam Dong Province 259, Binh Thuan Province 217, Quang Nam Province 188, Dong Nai Province 178, Quang Ninh Province 155, Da Nang 154, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province 152, Binh Duong Province 107, and Hoa Binh Province 97.

Vietnam had detected 19,848 domestically-acquired infections on Thursday.

The country has confirmed 1,725,518 community transmissions in all its 63 provinces and cities since the fourth virus wave erupted on April 27. A combined 1,352,469 of them have recovered from COVID-19.

Ho Chi Minh City tops the caseload with 503,244 patients, followed by Binh Duong Province with 290,671, Dong Nai Province with 97,718, Tay Ninh Province with 75,109, Hanoi with 46,040, Dong Thap Province with 44,181, Can Tho City with 40,867, Long An Province with 40,360, Tien Giang Province with 33,720, Khanh Hoa Province with 33,005, An Giang Province with 32,461, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with 26,320, Binh Thuan Province with 25,900, and Da Nang with 11,189.

Vietnam found a mere 1,570 locally-transmitted infections in total in the previous three waves.

The health ministry announced 18,642 recovered patients on Friday, taking the total count to 1,355,286.

The toll has spiraled to 32,394 deaths after the ministry logged 226 fatalities on the same day, including 34 in Ho Chi Minh City, 18 in Dong Nai Province, 18 in An Giang Province, 15 in Vinh Long Province, 15 in Can Tho City, 14 in Dong Thap Province, and the remainder in 19 other provinces and cities.  

Vietnam has reported 1,731,257 patients since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the country early last year.

Health workers have administered almost 151 million vaccine doses, including 1,964,508 shots on Thursday, since vaccination was rolled out nationwide on March 8.

Above 77.5 million of the country’s 98 million people have received at least one dose while over 68.4 million have been jabbed twice.

The number of third doses – including additional primary shots for immunocompromised people, boosters, and third jabs of Cuba’s Abdala vaccine – has risen to 4,944,591.

Vietnam aims to fully inoculate 100 percent of its adult population this year. Many provinces and cities are immunizing children aged 12-17 against COVID-19, using Pfizer-BioNTech shots.

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