Hà Nội on Friday continued to evacuate residents in Thanh Xuân District from their homes after the capital's biggest COVID cluster was discovered there. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases on Friday (September 3) with 14,922 new infections, taking the total tally to more than half a million.

Of the latest transmissions, just 28 were imported, and the rest discovered either in the community or already in locked down or quarantine zones.

Since the very first case was detected in January last year, there has now been a total of 501,469 people who have caught the virus.

HCM City still remains the country’s largest COVID-19 hotspot with 8,499 new cases, followed by neighbouring province of Bình Dương (3,676), Đồng Nai (986) and Long An (564).

Compared to the previous day, HCM City saw an increase of 2,536 cases and Đồng Nai an additional 183 while the figures in Bình Dương and Long An dropped by 828 and 19, respectively.

The capital city of Hà Nội reported 58 cases.

New patients were also found in Tây Ninh (267), Tiền Giang (154), Kiên Giang (104), Đồng Tháp (82), Đà Nẵng (81), Bình Thuận (75), An Giang (62), Khánh Hòa (61), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (39), Nghệ An (37), Quảng Ngãi (24), Phú Yên (19), Bình Định (17), Thanh Hóa (15), Cần Thơ (10), Gia Lai (10), Đắk Nông (9), Bình Phước (8 ), Vĩnh Long (8 ), Trà Vinh (5), Hà Tĩnh (5), Bến Tre (5), Cà Mau (4), Quảng Nam (3), Nam Định (2), Bạc Liêu (2), Bắc Ninh (1), Hậu Giang (1) and Bắc Giang (1).

The Ministry of Health on Friday also said 308 more deaths have been recorded, bringing the country’s total number of fatalities to 12,446

A total of 11,344 patients were given the all-clear, taking the number of recoveries to 270,668.

There are ten cities and provinces that have gone 14 days without new cases, Quảng Ninh, Bắc Kạn, Tuyên Quang, Lai Châu, Hoà Bình, Yên Bái, Hà Giang, Thái Nguyên, Điện Biên, and Vĩnh Phúc.

As of Friday, more than 20.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Việt Nam, with 2,959,122 people fully inoculated. 

District 7 and Củ Chi District in HCM City are the first two districts in the southern hub that have managed to keep the COVID-19 under control. —VNS