Health workers at Vĩnh Long General Hospital process COVID-19 testing samples using the Realtime-PCR method. VNA/VNS Photo Lê Thuý Hằng

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam confirmed a record 176,150 infections on Thursday, including 57,369 cases not previously logged from Hải Dương and Thái Bình Provinces.

This increased the country’s caseload since the start of the pandemic to 3,885,631.

Of the new cases, 10 were imported and quarantined upon arrival.

Hải Dương and Thái Bình Province reported 61,851 of the latest local cases, including 57,369 found on previous days.

The other cases were detected in Hà Nội (18,661), Nghệ An (6,152), Bắc Ninh (5,648), Quảng Ninh (3,956), Nam Định (3,801), Sơn La (3,751), Hưng Yên (3,497), Lạng Sơn (3,250), Phú Thọ (3,168), Hồ Chí Minh City (3,126), Vĩnh Phúc (2,835), Thái Nguyên (2,793), Bắc Giang (2,673), Hòa Bình (2,610), Hải Phòng (2,581), Đắk Lắk (2,480), Lào Cai (2,414), Ninh Bình (2,364), Yên Bái (2,358), Quảng Bình (2,335), Bình Dương (2,282), Tuyên Quang (2,269), Hà Giang (2,178), Khánh Hòa (1,977), Bình Phước (1,948), Điện Biên (1,843), Cao Bằng (1,838), Cà Mau (1,708), Hà Nam (1,645), Đà Nẵng (1,465), Bình Định (1,450), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (1,321), Thanh Hóa (1,056), Gia Lai (1,002), Quảng Trị (995), Lâm Đồng (983), Đắk Nông (836), Phú Yên (835), Hà Tĩnh (828), Bến Tre (817), Tây Ninh (691), Bắc Kạn (537), Bình Thuận (486), Quảng Ngãi (453), Thừa Thiên Huế (351), Quảng Nam (346), Vĩnh Long (293), Bạc Liêu (260), Đồng Nai (237), Kon Tum (193), Long An (165), Cần Thơ (147), Kiên Giang (101), Trà Vinh (83), An Giang (55), Đồng Tháp (47), Ninh Thuận (36), Sóc Trăng (35), Tiền Giang (29) and Hậu Giang (15).

A further 95 COVID-related deaths were announced, raising the nation's death toll to 40,547.

The deaths were in Hà Nội (20) Hải Dương (7 in two days), Thanh Hóa (6 cases in two days), Đắk Lắk (5), Đồng Nai (5), Hà Giang (5 in two days), Đà Nẵng (4), Lâm Đồng (4), Bình Định (3), Kiên Giang (3), Quảng Ninh (3), Bình Thuận (2), Cần Thơ (2), Cao Bằng (2), Hà Nam (2), Hà Tĩnh (2), Lạng Sơn (2), Ninh Bình (2), Phú Thọ (2), TP. Hồ Chí Minh (2), Bình Phước (1), Đắk Nông (1), Đồng Tháp (1), Gia Lai (1), Hải Phòng (1), Hòa Bình (1), Lào Cai (1), Phú Yên (1), Quảng Ngãi (1), Quảng Trị (1), Thái Nguyên (1) and Trà Vinh (1).

A total of 3,840 COVID-19 patients are in serious or critical condition, with 3,039 requiring oxygen, 332 requiring invasive ventilation and nine on life support.

33,740 recoveries were registered, bringing the total given the all-clear to 2,550,525.

More than 195.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Việt Nam, including 178.8 million doses in adults, 70.78 million first doses, 67.48 million second doses and 25.1 million booster doses.

Sixty-one out of 63 localities in the country have achieved vaccination coverage above 90 per cent in the adult population. Cao Bằng and Bình Dương are the two provinces below.

Nearly 17 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given to children aged 12-17 years, including 8.7 million first doses and 8.2 million second doses.

Deputy Minister of Health Đỗ Xuân Tuyên said that the health ministry had completed signing contracts with Pfizer to buy 21.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in March for children aged 5-11.

Seven million doses of Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5-11 will be delivered to Việt Nam in the first quarter and the remaining 14.9 million doses will be delivered in the second, Tuyên said.

Vaccination for this age group will be administered as soon as they are available.

On Thursday, the Drug Administration of Việt Nam agreed to extend the expiry date of the Moderna vaccine from seven months to nine months after the manufacturing date at storage conditions of minus 25 to minus 15 degrees Celsius.

The expiry extension applies to batches of the vaccine imported to Việt Nam since March 2. — VNS