Daily infection tally continues to see sharp rise as over 36,200 cases recorded

The majority of new cases were detected in Hanoi with 3,893, followed by the northern provinces of Thai Nguyen with 2,478 infections and Quang Ninh with 2,477 cases.

The past 24 hours saw 90 COVID-19 patients die, raising the overall number of fatalities to 39,278, representing 1.5% of all infections.

In the latest wave that hit the country in late April, more than 2.63 million cases have since been confirmed, with 2.25 million of them now having fully recovered.

A total 5,810 patients were declared free from the virus, pushing up the total number of recoveries to 2.254 million.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam requested that the Ministry of Health soon issue guidance on COVID-19 testing at school and for the health monitoring of children suffering from illnesses or underlying health conditions. This was discussed at an online meeting held with representatives of 63 provinces and cities nationwide held on February 17.

Deputy PM Dam underlined the importance of letting children return to schools and stressed that solutions must be long-term, proactive, vigilant, and without extremes, noting that pandemic prevention and control options for schools should be detailed and updated frequently.

He added that it remains essential to continue the vaccination plan for children between five and under 12 years old in line with guidance set out by the health body to control the rate of infections at school, as well as coming up with ways to properly tackle such infections and related people.

Furthermore, the Deputy PM also ordered the Ministry of Education and Training to further organise and complete online and television teaching methods as part of the educational reform programme, as opposed to just implementing it during the pandemic.