A senior citizen with underlying health conditions receiving the third dose of COVID-19 vaccine in District 3, HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vũ

HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam announced 16,515 new COVID-19 infections on the last day of the year, with the total number of vaccines administered nationwide crossing the 150 million mark.

There were also 226 more COVID-19 related deaths reported.

On the last day of 2021, Việt Nam reached a milestone in its vaccination drive with 150,935,915 doses administered to date. 

The country has given at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine to 99.4 per cent of its adult population, while 89.9 per cent are double-jabbed. 

A total of 12,013,079 doses have been administered to children aged 12 to 17. 

The latest coronavirus caseload brings Việt Nam's total number of infections to 1,731,257, while the country’s rolling seven-day average of new daily transmissions stands at 15,337.

The capital city of Hà Nội continued to record the highest number of infections with 1,914, followed by three provinces with more than 1,000 cases: Vĩnh Long with 1,080 and Cà Mau with 1,063, and Bình Phước with 1,003.

The other cases were found in Khánh Hòa (799), Tây Ninh (776), Bình Định (655), Trà Vinh (571), Đồng Tháp (570), HCM City (557), Bạc Liêu (541), Hải Phòng (520), Thừa Thiên Huế (404), Bến Tre (367), An Giang (296), Cần Thơ (293), Bắc Ninh (269), Lâm Đồng (259), Tiền Giang (247), Hưng Yên (241), Bình Thuận (217), Sóc Trăng (215), Hậu Giang (195), Quảng Ngãi (195), Quảng Nam (188), Đồng Nai (178), Thanh Hóa (174), Sơn La (170), Kiên Giang (163), Quảng Ninh (155), Đà Nẵng (154), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (152), Hà Giang (150), Ninh Bình (149), Gia Lai (148), Nam Định (119), Nghệ An (109), Bình Dương (107), Đắk Nông (100), Hòa Bình (97), Hà Nam (96), Bắc Giang (85), Vĩnh Phúc (82), Đắk Lắk (78), Lào Cai (70), Thái Bình (65), Long An (63), Ninh Thuận (47), Cao Bằng (45), Thái Nguyên (38), Quảng Bình (36), Lạng Sơn (35), Phú Thọ (33), Hải Dương (29), Tuyên Quang (28), Hà Tĩnh (27), Yên Bái (23), Kon Tum (20), Điện Biên (14) and Lai Châu (2).

Among the new cases, 39 were imported and the rest local transmissions. A total of 11,337 new infections were detected in the community.

Việt Nam now has 15 COVID-19 patients infected with the Omicron variant, with all immediately quarantined upon arrival in the country. 

The 226 COVID-related deaths were reported in HCM City (34), Đồng Nai (18), An Giang (18), Vĩnh Long (15), Cần Thơ (15), Đồng Tháp (14), Bình Dương (13), Kiên Giang (12), Sóc Trăng (11), Khánh Hòa (10), Tiền Giang (10), Bình Phước (8), Hà Nội (7), Bạc Liêu (7), Hậu Giang (6), Tây Ninh (5), Cà Mau (5), Bình Thuận (4), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (4), Trà Vinh (3), Long An (2), Gia Lai (2), Quảng Ngãi (1), Bình Định (1) and Lâm Đồng (1).

The 34 fatalities recorded in HCM City include seven transferred from other localities: Đồng Tháp (1), Long An (1), An Giang (1), Kiên Giang (1), Tiền Giang (1), Tây Ninh (1) and Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (1).

The death toll in Việt Nam now stands at 32,394, accounting for 1.9 per cent of all cases.

Nearly 7,300 patients nationwide are in serious condition, with 773 requiring invasive ventilation and 19 on life support.

A further 18,642 patients were given the all-clear on Friday, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,355,286. — VNS