People in high-risk areas of Tơng Ju village, Ea Kao Commune, Buôn Mê Thuột City in the Central Highlands, receiving COVID-19 vaccine shots on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Anh

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Health recorded the fewest COVID-19 deaths in two months on Friday, reporting 136 new fatalities. A further 6,957 new cases were announced, bringing the total to 797,712. 

Today's caseload dropped by 996 compared to Thursday.

HCM City and Bình Dương Province, the two biggest hot spots in the past few months, continue to record the highest daily count, with 3,670 and 1,787 each. These figures decreased by 702 and 316 respectively, compared to yesterday.

The breakdown of the remaining cases by localities in Việt Nam are as follows: Đồng Nai (735), An Giang (116), Long An (107), Kiên Giang (81), Tiền Giang (71), Bình Thuận (61), Tây Ninh (50), Hà Nam (50), Cần Thơ (30), Quảng Bình (17), Quảng Trị (16), Khánh Hòa (15), Ninh Thuận (15), Đồng Tháp (13), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (13), Bình Định (13), Bạc Liêu (13), Bình Phước (11), Hà Nội (8 ), Gia Lai (6), Phú Yên (6), Quảng Ngãi (6), Thanh Hóa (5), Vĩnh Long (4), Đắk Nông (3), Hà Tĩnh (3), Bến Tre (3), Nam Định (3), Bắc Giang (2), Đà Nẵng (2), Phú Thọ (2), Quảng Nam (1), Nghệ An (1), Hưng Yên (1), and Cà Mau (1). 16 were imported. 

Việt Nam's seven-day average of new cases now stands at 8,665.

The fourth wave of infections in the country, which started in late April, has resulted in 793,149 COVID-19 patients so far.

In a positive development, a record number of patients were given the all-clear today. 27,250 new recoveries today bring the total recoveries in Việt Nam to 636,081.

However, 6,131 patients are in a serious condition; 808 require invasive ventilation and 25 are on life support (ECMO). 

Of the 136 reported deaths today, the majority were in HCM City (96) and Bình Dương (19). This pushed the country's death toll to 19,437. Average daily deaths over the past seven days have fallen to 167.

The case fatality rate remains at 2.5 per cent. 

To date, Việt Nam has administered 42,888,157 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with 9.82 million people double jabbed. — VNS