Students at Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Primary School in Pleiku City, the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai wash their hands before going to class to prevent COVID-19. — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Điệp

HÀ NỘI — A further 10,489 new COVID-19 infections were recorded in Việt Nam on Thursday, increasing the caseload since the beginning of the pandemic to 656,129, according to the Ministry of Health.

Seven of them were imported cases and the remaining 10,482 infections were all domestic.

HCM City recorded the most with 5,735 cases, followed by Bình Dương with 2,998 and Đồng Nai with 567.

Other localities that reported new cases included Long An (281), Kiên Giang (198), An Giang (126), Tiền Giang (81), Cần Thơ (60), Tây Ninh (58), Quảng Bình (43), Khánh Hòa (37), Đồng Tháp (33), Bình Phước (30), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (29), Bình Thuận (29), Đắk Lắk (26), Bình Định (22), Hà Nội (15), Quảng Ngãi (14), Ninh Thuận (12), Hậu Giang (10), Cà Mau (9), Phú Yên (9), Đắk Nông (8 ), Bến Tre (7), Sóc Trăng (7), Bạc Liêu (7), Quảng Nam (6), Thanh Hóa (6), Trà Vinh (5), Nghệ An (4), Thừa Thiên Huế (3), Gia Lai (2), Đà Nẵng (2), Bắc Ninh (1), Hưng Yên (1) and Lâm Đồng (1).

A total of 6,537 cases were detected in the community.

As many as 10,901 patients were given the all-clear on Thursday, meaning 423,551 people have recovered from the disease so far.

More than 32.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered.

Fourteen out of 63 provinces and cities have not seen any new cases for the past 14 days.

The MoH on Thursday also announced 234 fatalities related to COVID-19 including HCM City (160), Bình Dương (46), Long An (10), Tiền Giang (6), Nghệ An (3), Tây Ninh (2), Bến Tre (2), Thanh Hóa (1), Khánh Hòa (1), Kiên Giang (1), Cà Mau (1), Hà Nội (1).

The country thus saw 16,425 deaths related to COVID-19, making up 2.5 per cent of total patients. The world’s fatality rate is 2.1 per cent of total patients. — VNS