Vietnam’s daily Covid infection reaches new peak

Vietnam recorded 13,417 new local Covid-19 cases Saturday, the highest single-day tally ever since the pandemic hit the country as its biggest cities tightened restrictions to contain the outbreak.

The three localities recording the highest number of cases were the southern industrial hub Binh Duong with 6,623 cases, HCMC with 4,084 cases and the Mekong Delta’s Tien Giang with 589 cases.

Binh Duong’s new cases include 2,118 detected previously but only registered in the Covid-19 national database on Saturday.

Of the country’s Saturday infections, 7,428 were detected in the community and the remaining in quaratine facilities or locked down areas. The day’s number has pushed the tally in the ongoing wave since late April to 332,627.

The number of recoveries since the start of the pandemic increased to 140,087, after 7,272 were announced recovered Saturday.

The country has vaccinated over 14 million people with at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot. Over 1.7 million of them have been fully vaccinated.

HCMC, Vietnam’s biggest metropolis and epicenter of the ongoing wave, will tighten its travel restrictions in high-risk areas from Monday while people in safe and low-risk areas would be allowed to go shopping once a week, and the rest should expect task forces to deliver food to their homes.

People in need will receive free food, HCMC authorities said at a meeting Saturday.

Hanoi with more than eight million people continued its strict social distancing order for another 15 days until September 6.

Da Nang, considered as Vietnam’s third most important city after Hanoi and HCMC, also extended its stay-at-home order for another three days until August 26. The order was scheduled to end on Monday but the number of daily infections in Da Nang has showed no signs of slowing. On Saturday, Da Nang recorded 197 new cases.

By Le Nga – VnExpress.net – August 21, 2021