Vietnam reports spike in COVID-19 infections with over 31,800 new cases
VOV.VN - The Health Ministry confirmed the detection of a further 31,814 local COVID-19 cases across 62 cities and provinces nationwide on February 15, marking an increase of 2,384 cases from the previous day.
The three localities recording the highest number of infections cases include Hanoi with 3,972 cases, Hai Duong with 1,807 cases, and Hai Phong with 1,417 cases.
Of the daily total, 22,870 cases were detected within the local community.
The nation has so far recorded a total of 198 cases of citizens infected with the Omicron variant, with 97 of them in Ho Chi Minh City.
The COVID-19 death toll in the nation climbed to 39,122 following the confirmation of a further 85 deaths on the same day.
The Health Ministry also confirmed 9,326 recoveries on the same day to bring the total number of recovered cases up to 2,242,273 so far.
Over 79.2 million people out of the country’s 96 million population have now been inoculated with two doses of the vaccine, and more than 32.4 million have received the third dose.
Though the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Ho Chi Minh City has been falling, there are so far no grounds for viewing COVID-19 as a seasonal flu and treating it as a common illness, a local official has said.
The COVID-19 fatalities deaths in the country's largest urban hub have been very low over the past one week, with less than four fatalities per day.
However, the pandemic is an unprecedented event, and there still isn’t a sufficient understanding about it to conclude that COVID-19 is similar to dengue fever or other standard illnesses, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, chief of the municipal Health Department’s Office, told a recent meeting of the municipal steering committee for pandemic combat and economic recovery.
She therefore urged people to continue enhancing anti-pandemic measures and not to lower their guard.
Meanwhile, the nation has launched its spring COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with the aim of giving booster shots to all eligible adults within the first quarter of the year.
The campaign, originally launched by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, aims to reduce the number of fatal cases, whilst enabling the reopening of schools in a safe manner.