COVID-19: Vietnam records 9,706 new cases over 24 hours

Of the new infections, 4,377 cases were detected in the community through test screening or random testing, 24 tested positive upon returning to Vietnam from overseas, and the rest were documented in quarantine or lockdown areas. 

Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s largest coronavirus hotspot, registered 4,046, up by 260 cases compared to the previous day.

It was followed by Binh Duong, another coronavirus hotspot in the south that recorded 3,629 new cases, up by 651 cases. 

Hundreds of cases each were detected in other southern localities, with Dong Nai documenting 996 infections, Long An 193, Binh Phuoc 147, and An Giang 117.

Central localities reported a slight decrease in infection numbers, with Binh Dinh recording 39, Khanh Hoa 25, Da Nang 11 and Phu Yen 10.

Ha Nam, a new coronavirus hotspot in northern Vietnam, reported 66 cases during the past 24 days. The province  established a field hospital to treat COVID-19 patients under the 3-tiered treatment model. 

As of 06.00pm on September 25, Vietnam has recorded 746,678 coronavirus cases since the start of the outbreak in January 2020, and 742,174 locally acquired infections following the resurgence of the virus nearly five months ago.

Of the total, 511,370 patients have been discharged from hospital after making a full recovery from the disease, including 10,590 recoveries announced on September 25. 

The past 24 hours saw the death toll drop considerably to 180 compared to 203 cases of the previous day, with HCM City and Binh Duong reporting 123 and 34 cases, respectively.

The September 25 figure has raised the COVID-19 death toll in Vietnam to 18,400, making up 2.5% of the total number of infections and 0.4% higher than the average death rate globally. 

More than 37.5 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, with 7.55 million people getting full jabs.