Đà Nẵng City starts another COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday for 92,000 people, mostly frontline workers, essential service workers, diplomats and customs officials. — VNA/VNS Photo Văn Dũng

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam recorded 12,680 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, according to Wednesday's report from the health ministry.

A total of 12,663 were locally acquired, with 7,851 found in the community.

The two southern hotspots of HCM City and Bình Dương Province reported 7,308 and 3,172 new infections, respectively, accounting for the majority of the country's caseload.

The breakdown of new infections by localities are as follows: Đồng Nai (814), Long An (372), Tiền Giang (171), Cần Thơ (83), Đồng Tháp (62), Bình Phước (61), Quảng Bình (53), Tây Ninh (52), Khánh Hòa (48), An Giang (46), Kiên Giang (43), Nghệ An (42), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (42), Hà Nội (40), Đà Nẵng (30), Đắk Nông (28), Bình Định (27), Bình Thuận (26), Đắk Lắk (24), Phú Yên (19), Quảng Ngãi (19), Bạc Liêu (18), Sóc Trăng (13), Trà Vinh (11), Thừa Thiên Huế (9), Bến Tre (6), Bắc Ninh (5), Cà Mau (5), Gia Lai (3), Quảng Nam (2), Ninh Thuận (2), Sơn La (2), Thái Bình (1), Hưng Yên (1), Hà Tĩnh (1), Lạng Sơn (1) and Hậu Giang (1).

The seven-day moving average was reported as 12,862.

The new cases brought the national caseload to 563,676, making Việt Nam 50th out of 222 countries and regions in terms of total infections and 158th in terms of infections per one million people.

A total of 559,346 cases have been reported in the fourth wave of infections that began late April.

A further 13,937 COVID-19 patients have been released from hospital in the past 24 hours, bringing the total recoveries to 325,647.

6,479 patients are in serious condition, with 29 requiring life support (ECMO), according to the health ministry.

Việt Nam also reported 335 new COVID-19 deaths today, bringing the country's total to 14,135 (2.5 per cent of confirmed caseload, 0.4 per cent higher than the world's average rate of 2.1 per cent).

HCM City and Bình Dương lead the national death count with 268 and 34 fatalities each, and the rest mostly in southern localities.

771,937 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered on Tuesday, bringing the country's total doses to nearly 23.6 million. Nearly 3.8 million people have been fully vaccinated.

More testing needed

Also today, health minister Nguyễn Thanh Long sent an urgent dispatch to COVID-19 hotspots in the country - Hà Nội, Phú Yên Province in the south-central region, and 20 provinces and cities in the southern region, including HCM City - telling them to speed up COVID-19 testing, as a key measure during the time these localities stay under social distancing, to lift restrictions soon and avoid prolonged lockdowns.

By September 15, all households in high-risk and very high risk areas should be tested at least three times (once every 2-3 days), using either individual rapid antigen tests or RT-PCR diagnostics with pooled samples.

In other areas, households should be tested at least once, using RT-PCR diagnostics with pooled samples.

It's noted that the sample collection will be taking place at the homes or residences of the tested people.

Medical personnel and other staff working at healthcare facilities and essential businesses should be tested for COVID-19 once every three days.

Health authorities are also urged to consider providing training and demonstrations for residents to take samples themselves, under the guidance of health workers. — VNS