The Văn Miếu - Quốc Tử Giám area in Hà Nội has been locked down after 22 new COVID-19 cases were reported by Saturday afternoon. — VNA/VNS Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam reported a record of 11,321 new COVID-19 infection cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 336,707, the Ministry of Health announced.

This is the third consecutive day that Việt Nam has logged record numbers of daily cases since the pandemic began. Of the latest transmissions, 22 were imported and 11,299 were locally-transmitted.

Among the new cases, 7,428 were found in the community. No new deaths were confirmed on Saturday.

The total number of deaths in the country as of August 20 was 7,540, accounting for 2.3 per cent of the total number of cases.

The southern province of Bình Dương is now the major epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic with the highest number of new infections with 4,505.

Bình Dương saw an increase of 282 infection cases compared to the previous day. The province has extended its social distancing period in 11 wards and communes starting August 22. 

HCM City reported 4,084, an increase of 709 cases compared to Friday, followed by neighbouring provinces of Tiền Giang (589), Đồng Nai (551) and Long An (393).

The capital city of Hà Nội recorded 76 new infections.

New cases were also detected in Đà Nẵng (197), Đồng Tháp (109), Cần Thơ (100) and Tây Ninh (83).

On Saturday, a total of 7,272 people were given the all-clear, bringing the total number of fully recovered patients to 140,087.

16,494,665 people have been vaccinated, of those 1,707,066 people have been given two doses.

Yên Bái has not detected any new cases in the last 14 days, raising the total all-clear localities to seven: Hải Phòng City and the provinces of Quảng Ninh, Bắc Kạn, Tuyên Quang, Lai Châu and Hoà Bình. 

There are 687 patients currently in intensive care. — VNS