Specialised decontamination vehicles spray disinfectants on Hà Huy Tập Street, Vinh City, the central city of Nghệ An on Monday after a COVID-19 infection case was detected. — VNA/VNS Photo Tá Chuyên

HÀ NỘI — The health ministry on Monday evening confirmed a further 75 new local COVID-19 infections and five imported cases in six localities, bringing the daily increase to 272.

A total of 236 among the 266 new local cases on Monday were detected in quarantine facilities or locked-down areas.

The country’s COVID-19 hotspot, the northern province of Bắc Giang, saw the largest increase with 121 domestic cases connected to known industrial clusters on Monday, followed by HCM City with 82, Hà Tĩnh Province with 22, Bắc Ninh Province with 17 and Tiền Giang Province with 14.

The capital city of Hà Nội saw four new cases, Bắc Kạn Province had one, while the central province of Nghệ An detected the first case during the country’s fourth wave, a 22-year-old woman who is a direct contact of a confirmed patient in Hà Tĩnh Province.

The country has logged 7,523 cases since the beginning of the fourth wave of infections, accounting for the majority of the national caseload of 9,093 domestically transmitted since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

A total of 238 patients were given the all-clear today, the biggest number of recoveries recorded in a single day in Việt Nam to date, pushing the total to 4,236.

The country has recorded 61 COVID-19 related deaths, including two new victims today.

Twenty-one provinces – Yên Bái, Quảng Ngãi, Đồng Nai, Quảng Ninh, Quảng Nam, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên Huế, Nam Định, Hòa Bình, Tuyên Quang, Sơn La, Ninh Bình, Thanh Hóa, Thái Nguyên, Hưng Yên, Hải Phòng, Tây Ninh, Gia Lai, Bạc Liêu, Điện Biên, and Đắk Lắk – have gone 14 days without new infections.

Since April 27, a total of 2,165,826 COVID-19 testing samples have been collected and processed.

COVID-19 standing division in HCM City

Due to the large outbreak in HCM City, the health ministry on Monday announced its decision to establish a standing division for COVID-19 prevention and control in HCM City after the city's leader announced the extension of social distancing orders.

The division is headed by deputy health minister Nguyễn Trường Sơn, who has just wrapped up his support mission to hotspot province of Bắc Giang.

Sơn will be assisted by three deputy heads from local medical establishments – Director of Chợ Rẫy Hospital Nguyễn Tri Thức; Director of HCM City Pasteur Institute Phan Trọng Lân, and Director of HCM City Institute of Public Health Đặng Văn Chính.

The division aims to support professional activities in responding to the outbreak, patient treatment, testing, quarantine, and communications work in the city and neighbouring localities.

It will also inspect and assist the city's implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control measures in line with the directions of the Party Secretariat, the Government, the Prime Minister, and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, as well as professional guidance of the Ministry of Health.

The ministry requested the municipal Department of Health direct relevant agencies and district-level authorities to work with the unit and follow its professional recommendations. — VNS