National tally crosses 30,000 following detection of 622 more new cases
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Ho Chi Minh City remains the nation’s largest epicentre of the virus, with more than 13,550 cases being found during the latest COVID-19 wave.
478 out of 659 newly detected cases were detected in isolation or areas currently under blockdown.
The domestic cases included Ho Chi Minh City (544), Tien Giang (43), Khanh Hoa (27), Vinh Long (26), An Giang (8), Binh Phuoc (5), Phu Yen (4),and one each in Hue and Nghe An.
Vietnam has to date reported a total of 30,478, including 1,927 imported infections and 28,551 local cases. As many as nearly 27,000 have been documented since April 27 when the fourth wave of the pandemic initially broke out in the country.
One day earlier, the country logged a total of 1,953 new cases of COVID-19, with Ho Chi Minh City taking the top spot at 1,397, followed by the southern province of Binh Duong at 234.
The Ministry of Health also announced the discharge of a further 71 COVID-19 patients, raising the total number recoveries to 9,275.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health the 5th vaccination drive is set to be conducted within two or three weeks in the time ahead, with around initial 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be administered.
The HCM City Center for Disease Control said that these vaccines include one million doses of the Moderna vaccine donated by the US through the Covax facility, and 100,000 doses of the Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine from the Japanese Government's funding.
The group prioritized for this vaccination drive are vulnerable people and those living in very high-risk areas.
The Vietnamese Government last month adopted the emergency use of the Moderna vaccine, the fifth after Russia's Sputnik V and those made by the U.S.'s Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech, China's Sinopharm and British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.
Moreover, 12 provinces have stayed free of COVID-19 for a period of 14 consecutive days amid the ongoing fourth outbreak, while 8 provinces have recorded no secondary infections.
Over 4 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to date, of which more than 277,450 have received two shots. Nearly 12,734 people were inoculated against the virus on July 11 alone in five Vietnamese localities.
