Health workers taking a sample for COVID-19 testing from a resident in Phố Mới Town in Quế Võ District, Bắc Ninh Province on Wednesday, after at least 11 community cases are detected. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Thương

HÀ NỘI — A total of 3,646 new cases were reported in Việt Nam on Wednesday, along with 72 more deaths. 

The nationwide tally since the beginning of the pandemic stands at 869,193. The total number of deaths is 21,416.

Among the new cases, 11 were imported and the rest were local transmissions. Of the new infections, 1,810 were detected in the community.

The number of infections increased by 608 cases compared to Tuesday’s figures.

HCM City still has the highest infection rate with 1,347 cases, followed by the neighbouring provinces of Bình Dương (492) and Đồng Nai (305).

The capital city of Hà Nội reported ten new cases.

The Ministry of Health has directed the health departments of Bắc Ninh, Phú Thọ and Thanh Hóa provinces to urgently expand their epidemiological investigations and trace those who have close contact with new locally transmitted cases.

In the past two days, a cluster of at least 11 community cases relating to a local pre-school has emerged in Quế Võ District, Bắc Ninh Province, a previous COVID-19 hotspot.

The local authority has urgently conducted their epidemiological investigations relating to this cluster, to quickly locate infected people and prevent infections from spreading further into the community.

Other areas that recorded COVID cases today are An Giang (194), Sóc Trăng (100), Bạc Liêu (99), Gia Lai (93), Kiên Giang (87), Đắk Lắk (77), Long An (72), Tiền Giang (65), Tây Ninh (52), Phú Thọ (50), Bình Thuận (50), Cà Mau (46), Cần Thơ (44), Hà Giang (40), Khánh Hòa (39), Trà Vinh (38), Nghệ An (33), Thanh Hóa (25), Quảng Nam (24), Đồng Tháp (24), Hậu Giang (23), Quảng Trị (23), Hà Nam (19), Bến Tre (18), Quảng Ngãi (17), Bình Định (16), Vĩnh Long (14), Bắc Ninh (13), Bình Phước (13), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (13), Kon Tum (12), Thừa Thiên Huế (11), Đà Nẵng (8 ), Ninh Thuận (5), Đắk Nông (4), Quảng Bình (3), Nam Định (3), Lào Cai (3), Hải Dương (2), Yên Bái (2), Sơn La (2), Phú Yên (1), Hà Tĩnh (1), Vĩnh Phúc (1), Điện Biên (1), Tuyên Quang (1).

It was also announced on Wednesday that 1,737 patients have fully recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 796,583.

Of the 3,879 COVID-19 patients being treated in hospital at the moment, 20 are on life support (ECMO). 

More than 67 million doses of vaccines have been administered so far in Việt Nam. — VNS