An elderly woman in HCM City's District 3 receives her Moderna vaccine shot on Tuesday. The city is carrying out its fifth mass vaccination campaign with nearly 1 million doses since July 22 and is supposed to wrap up in 2-3 weeks. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vũ

HÀ NỘI — There were 7,911 domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases recorded on Tuesday, the second highest daily increase since the pandemic first struck last year.

The majority of the new infections are in HCM City, which still remains the coronavirus epicentre of Việt Nam.

The southern economic hub, which is under enhanced social distancing order and two days into an order preventing people from going outside from 6pm to 6am except for medical purposes, logged 6,318 cases.

The rest of Tuesday’s cases were found in Bình Dương (166), Tây Ninh (144), Long An (75), Vĩnh Long (73), Cần Thơ (71), Tiền Giang (63), Bến Tre (60), Phú Yên (60), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (52), Bình Thuận (45), An Giang (43), Khánh Hoà (26), Đà Nẵng (26), Hà Nội (23), Sóc Trăng (22), Kiên Giang (13), Ninh Thuận (13), Đắk Lắk (12), Vĩnh Phúc (11), Hậu Giang (10), Bình Định (8 ), Huế (6), Gia Lai (5), Đắk Nông (5), Trà Vinh (3), Quảng Nam (3), Quảng Ngãi (3), Kon Tum (2), Lạng Sơn (2)Cà Mau (1), Thái Nguyên (1), Bạc Liêu (1), Thanh Hóa (1), Lâm Đồng (1), and Hà Tĩnh (1).

The southern region, with 19 provinces and cities under Government’s Directive 16 on social distancing since July 19, continues to lead the country in terms of new patients.

1,063 infections among the new cases today were detected in the community, outside of locked down or quarantined areas. There were two imported cases.

As of Tuesday, the fourth wave of infections that started in late April has resulted in 110,487 COVID-19 cases.

Six northern provinces – Yên Bái, Điện Biên, Hải Dương, Quảng Ninh, Bắc Kajn, Nam Định – along with the central province of Quảng Trị, have not recorded any new infections for 14 days.

Meanwhile, 1,602 patients were given the all clear on Tuesday, bringing the total recoveries to 22,946.

In the past 24 hours, 419,491 people have been tested for COVID-19.

There are 211 seriously ill COVID-19 patients currently being treated in intensive care units (ICU), and 17 patients in critical condition who are on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) life support.

In total, 4,746,642 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Việt Nam to date, with 423,071 people having received the full two shots. — VNS