A pharmacist gives advice to a customer purchasing Molnupiravir, the antiviral drug used for COVID treatment. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has exceeded three million coronavirus cases, as the country registered a record 69,128 new infections on Thursday.

After the country entered its fourth wave of the virus in late April 2021, it took just over six months for it to reach one million transmissions on November 11. By January 15, it had doubled.

Just over five weeks later, it has hit three million infections.

The new cases bring the country's tally to 3,041,506.

There were a further 19,062 recoveries, bringing the total number of people given the all-clear to 2,339,784.

Of the new transmissions, nine were imported and quarantined upon arrival. Out of the new cases, 48,179 were in the community.

Currently, 3,137 patients have severe infections with 12 on life support.

The capital city of Hà Nội again registered the highest daily number of infections with 8,864 cases, also a record for the city.

Other localities with four-digit case numbers were Bắc Giang (4,171), Hải Dương (2,948), Sơn La (2,860), Phú Thọ (2,596), Nam Định (2,592), HCM City (2,466), Hòa Bình (2,391), Bắc Ninh (2,375), Vĩnh Phúc (2,117), Hưng Yên (1,995), Hải Phòng (1,890), Ninh Bình (1,799), Yên Bái (1,666), Lào Cai (1,655), Nghệ An (1,629), Hà Giang (1,560), Đắk Lắk (1,514), Thái Nguyên (1,497), Lạng Sơn (1,480), Thái Bình (1,456), Khánh Hòa (1,229), Quảng Nam (1,199), Tuyên Quang (1,118) and Bình Định (1,016).

The remaining infections were found in Quảng Bình (987), Đà Nẵng (981), Thanh Hóa (881), Cao Bằng (848), Điện Biên (738), Lâm Đồng (732), Hà Tĩnh (715), Phú Yên (656), Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu (627), Bình Phước (610), Gia Lai (579), Bình Dương (577), Hà Nam (530), Lai Châu (438), Cà Mau (422), Quảng Trị (414), Bình Thuận (284), Đắk Nông (253), Thừa Thiên-Huế (242), Bắc Kạn (214), Kon Tum (189), Tây Ninh (179), Bến Tre (179), Đồng Nai (148), Quảng Ngãi (145), Vĩnh Long (83), Bạc Liêu (81), Kiên Giang (77), Trà Vinh (74), Cần Thơ (51), Long An (40), Ninh Thuận (17), Sóc Trăng (17), Đồng Tháp (10), An Giang (7), Tiền Giang (7) and Hậu Giang (4).

A further 111 COVID-related deaths were reported on Wednesday, taking the total number of fatalities to 39,884, accounting for 1.3 per cent of total infections.

Nearly 76.7 million people in the country have been fully inoculated. — VNS