COVID-19: HCM City registers 563 new cases, national count rises to over 15,000
VOV.VN - Vietnam has recorded an additional 576 locally transmitted coronavirus cases in five localities across the country during the past 12 hours, including 563 cases in Ho Chi Minh City alone, raising its national tally of infections to 15,115.
HCM City registered a further 563 cases that were among 667 new cases announced by the municipal Department of Health on June 25 but not labelled by the Ministry of Health (MoH).
Most of the cases were documented in quarantine or lockdown areas, the MoH said in its 06.00am COVID-19 update on June 26.
The local administration admitted that the COVID-19 fight in the city is under enormous pressure as more chains of transmission of unknown origin have been uncovered, and many cases are asymptomatic.
Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son who is in HCM City to direct COVID-19 prevention and control pointed to the fact that virus infection at wholesale markets in the city is quite complicated as the number of detected cases has increased considerably.
He suggested suspending high-risk locations like Hoc Mon wholesale market for few days if the city wants to break the chain of transmission there.
Elsewhere, 13 other cases were recorded in Bac Giang (5), Tay Ninh (5), Long An (2) and Thai Binh (1).
According to the MoH, two Vietnamese nationals returning from the United States transiting through the Republic of Korea tested positive for the virus.
Vietnam has confirmed 11,794 new cases in more than 40 cities and provinces across the country since the virus resurged in late April.
Overall it has logged 15,115 infections since the first case was documented in January 2020.
Seventy-four patients have died of COVID-19 and other underlying illnesses, including 39 cases during the current outbreak.
