Health staff at the Military Medical Academy analysing COVID-19 test samples in Bac Giang Province. — Photo tienphong.vn

HÀ NỘI — There were 227 new local cases of COVID-19 reported on Thursday, increasing the total community infections to 3,254 since April 27, according to the Ministry of Health.

Bắc Giang Province topped the list with 128 new cases, followed by Bắc Ninh Province with 52 cases, HCM City with 36, Hà Nội with seven, while Lạng Sơn, Điện Biện and Hải Dương provinces as well as Đà Nẵng City, each reported one new case.

Thirty six cases are confirmed after a new cluster of 25 COVID-19 cases related to a Christian church in Gò Vấp District was found.

On the same day, the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam announced that the Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport would stop receiving passengers from May 27 to June 4.

The eight provinces of Yên Bái, Quảng Ngãi, Đồng Nai, Nghệ An, Quảng Ninh, Quảng Nam, Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên Huế have not recorded any new cases for 14 days.

On Thursday, the ministry also reported three imported cases that were all quarantined on arrival.

These new cases brings Việt Nam's total caseload to 6,316.

The number of fatalities stands at 46.

Bắc Ninh Province has decided to set up two more field hospitals with a 700 bed capacity to cope with the increasing number of patients.

One with 200 beds was set up in the health centre of Thuận Thành District and the other has 500 beds and is split between the Lung Hospital and Traditional Medicine Hospital at one location in Bắc Ninh City. VNS