14,861 new infections confirmed, Hanoi reaches new high of nearly 2,500

Hanoi continues recording the highest number of infections among other localities nationwide. The three localities reporting hundreds of new cases include Tay Ninh with 916, Khanh Hoa with 797, and Ho Chi Minh City with 664.

The total caseload has therefore risen to 1,800,704, putting the nation at 31st out of 224 countries and territories in terms of overall infections.

Furthermore, 16,227 COVID-19 patients were announced to have recovered from the virus on the same day, thereby bringing the number of recovered cases to 1,413,388.

An additional 224 people were confirmed to have died from the disease over the past 24 hours. With 33,245 fatalities confirmed so far, the nation ranks 26th out of 224 countries and territories.

Moreover, more than 154  million people have now received their first COVID-19 vaccine doses nationwide, whilst over 69.6 million have received their second doses, and around 6.8 million have received their third doses.

Elsewhere, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has recently issued urgent guidelines for a five-step quarantine procedure specifically for arriving passengers amid the local emergence of the Omicron variant.

According to the document, the self-quarantine area, including homes, hotels, offices, dormitories, and guest houses, must meet the standards set out by the Ministry of Health.

In the event that the accommodation fails to meet these criteria, incoming passengers will be forced to go into concentrated quarantine facilities.

To date, the country has confirmed 20 Omicron infections, all of which were imported cases and were immediately quarantined upon arrival. Fortunately, all of the infections were reportedly asymptomatic or mild cases. Six of them, including five in Ho Chi Minh City and one in Hanoi, the nation’s first confirmed Omicron patient, have since been released from hospital after testing negative for the virus.