A health worker handles samples for COVID-19 testing at the Hà Nội Centre for Disease Control. VNA/VNS Photo

 HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health reported 7,940 COVID-19 infections on Thursday, taking the tally since the start of the pandemic to 790,755 cases.

4,550 cases were detected in the community and outside of concentrated quarantine or locked down areas. Three were imported. 

The death toll increased 159 deaths, raising the total tally to 19,301, accounting for 2.5 per cent of total infections. Average deaths over the past seven days stands are 177 deaths a day.

HCM City, the country’s current largest pandemic hotspot, reported the highest number of infections with 4,372 cases, followed by neighbouring Bình Dương province (2,103), Đồng Nai (626), An Giang (172), Long An (125) and Kiên Giang (79).

Hà Nội reported one case after going five straight days with no reported community cases.

Other locally-transmited cases were found in Đắk Lắk (64), Tiền Giang (49), Hà Nam (45), Cần Thơ (41), Tây Ninh (39), Bình Thuận (38), Khánh Hòa (30), Quảng Bình (21), Bình Phước (16), Ninh Thuận (15), Phú Thọ (14), Nghệ An (13), Quảng Ngãi (10), Đắk Nông (10), Đồng Tháp (9), Bình Định (7), Vĩnh Long (6), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (6), Lâm Đồng (5), Phú Yên (4), Bến Tre (3), Bạc Liêu (3), Kon Tum (2), Đà Nẵng (2), Thừa Thiên Huế (2), Quảng Trị (2), Trà Vinh (1), Hà Tĩnh (1) and Thanh Hóa (1).

A total of 25,322 patients were given the all-clear on September 30, raising the number of recoveries to 608,831.

A total of 6,815 COVID-19 patients are in a serious condition; 27 patients are on life support.

983,839 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered on Thursday, bringing the total so far to more than 42.1 million doses. Nearly 9.5 million people in Việt Nam have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19. — VNS