COVID-19 testing at Thanh Trì District, Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Tuấn Anh

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam recorded 16,157 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, including 10,528 community infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,620,869.

It was the sixth consecutive day that the capital Hà Nội had the most new transmissions in the country, and the eighth time in 11 days it has recorded a city-wide record for the number of daily infections, with 1,834.

The remaining transmissions were in Cà Mau (1,334), Tây Ninh (948), Vĩnh Long (868), Khánh Hòa (785), Cần Thơ (785), Đồng Tháp (782), HCM City (679), Trà Vinh (568), Bình Định (543), Bạc Liêu (507), Thừa Thiên Huế (399), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (359), Đồng Nai (354), Kiên Giang (353), Phú Yên (353), Sóc Trăng (323), An Giang (299), Hưng Yên (296), Bắc Ninh (289), Bến Tre (263), Đắk Lắk (263), Lâm Đồng (229), Thanh Hóa (222), Gia Lai (216), Bình Thuận (185), Tiền Giang (146), Đà Nẵng (140), Nam Định (121), Quảng Nam (119), Nghệ An (114), Vĩnh Phúc (104), Quảng Ninh (98), Bình Dương (94), Quảng Ngãi (90), Hà Giang (86), Đắk Nông (79), Hậu Giang (78), Long An (74), Quảng Trị (70), Thái Bình (61), Phú Thọ (59), Ninh Thuận (51), Hà Nam (48), Kon Tum (48), Hòa Bình (48), Hải Dương (44), Quảng Bình (42), Bình Phước (40), Thái Nguyên (37), Hà Tĩnh (35), Lạng Sơn (34), Bắc Giang (31), Tuyên Quang (28), Hải Phòng (19), Sơn La (19), Yên Bái (14), Lào Cai (12), Cao Bằng (10), Lai Châu (7), Điện Biên (4) and Bắc Kạn (2).

Việt Nam’s rolling seven-day average of new COVID-19 infections stood at 16,041, up by over 700 compared to a week ago (15,326 on December 17).

A total of 30,833 COVID-19 patients were given the all-clear, bringing total recoveries to 1,215,261.

Some 7,767 cases are in serious conditions in hospital, including 890 needing mechanical ventilation and 19 on life support.

A further 235 COVID-related deaths were confirmed, with southern localities continuing to post the most fatalities – HCM City with 44 deaths, followed by Đồng Nai with 20, An Giang with 18, Tiền Giang with 15 and Đồng Tháp with 13.

The seven-day average for daily fatalities is currently at 238, down slightly from 243 a week ago.

To date, Việt Nam has registered 30,766 COVID-related deaths (27th out of 234 countries and territories in the world), accounting for about 1.9 per cent of infections.

A total of 1,219,867 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered on Thursday, bringing the total shots given to 143,520,464, with 76,679,502 first doses, 64,807,736 second doses, and 2,033,226 third doses.

About 97.7 per cent of the adult population received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 85.5 per cent had been fully inoculated.

10.3 million doses of vaccines have been given to children aged 12-17, including about 7 million first doses and 3.3 million second doses.

First-dose coverage in this age group has hit 77.2 per cent, while second-dose coverage stands at 36.2 per cent.

Hà Nam, Quảng Ninh, Lạng Sơn, Đà Nẵng, Khánh Hòa, HCM City, Tiền Giang, Tây Ninh, Vĩnh Long, Bình Dương, Bạc Liêu and Hậu Giang have all basically completed inoculation for those aged 12 to 17. — VNS