Residents in a locked down area in Nguyễn Du Ward, Hà Nội, were tested for COVID-19 on Saturday morning. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Hiếu

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam confirmed 13,998 new COVID cases on Saturday, bringing the national tally to 1,294,778.

The southern region continued to lead the country in terms of new daily infections, with HCM City reporting the most, at 1,636 cases, followed by Cần Thơ with 998 cases, Tây Ninh (787), Bến Tre (762) Bình Thuận (626) and Đồng Tháp (624).

The other areas with new transmissions were: Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu (620), Cà Mau (568), Bạc Liêu (565), Bình Phước (562), Vĩnh Long (552), Kiên Giang (498), Khánh Hòa (467), Hà Nội (455), Đồng Nai (433), Thừa Thiên Huế (335), An Giang (319), Bình Dương (319), Trà Vinh (301), Hậu Giang (288), Tiền Giang (209), Bình Định (203), Gia Lai (180), Hà Giang (140), Bắc Ninh (119), Đắk Nông (116), Đà Nẵng (104), Thanh Hóa (103), Long An (91), Thái Nguyên (82), Hải Phòng (81), Ninh Thuận (76), Hưng Yên (65), Nghệ An (61), Quảng Nam (59), Hải Dương (55), Phú Yên (52), Phú Thọ (49), Vĩnh Phúc (44), Đắk Lắk (42), Quảng Ngãi (41), Yên Bái (40), Nam Định (39), Quảng Trị (34), Thái Bình (27), Quảng Bình (25), Tuyên Quang (25), Hà Tĩnh (21), Hòa Bình (20), Quảng Ninh (20), Bắc Giang (20), Lào Cai (11), Hà Nam (8 ), Cao Bằng (8), Ninh Bình (6), Sơn La (1) and Bắc Kạn (1).

The capital Hà Nội witnessed a large drop of new reported cases, with 336 less than on Friday.

The rolling seven-day average for new transmissions is now 13,784, more than 2,000 higher than the previous week.

 Việt Nam currently ranks 35th out of 223 countries and territories worldwide for total infections, while for cases per million it ranks 149th.

The vast majority of the national total was recorded during the country’s fourth wave of infections, which started in late April this year, with HCM City accounting for 36 per cent of all cases.

A total of 1,107 COVID recoveries were recorded on Saturday, bringing the total to 1,007,556.

There are currently 6,778 patients in serious condition, including 665 requiring invasive mechanical ventilation and 14 cases on ECMO.

The country recorded a further 203 deaths over the last 24 hours, mostly in HCM City and southern provinces. 

There have been a total of 26,061 COVID deaths across the country so far, about 2 per cent all infections.

A total 991,961 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered on Friday, bringing Việt Nam's total shots given to 126,846,771, with 73,155,299 being first doses and 53,691,472 second doses. VNS