Hanoi (Vietnam), January 30: Vietnam reported 34 new cases of COVID-19 infection on Saturday morning, all locally transmitted, according to its Ministry of Health.
The new cases included 32 detected in northern Vietnam's Hai Duong province and two in the northern Quang Ninh province, said the ministry.
All the new infections are related to the recent outbreaks in the two provinces where new domestically transmitted cases were first recorded after Vietnam had gone through nearly two months free of community infections.
The new cases brought the total confirmed cases in the country to 1,739 with 35 deaths as of 6 a.m. local time on Saturday.
As many as 1,448 patients have been given the all-clear, the ministry said, adding that nearly 21,900 people are being quarantined and monitored.
The Ministry of Health has sent experienced staff to support the affected localities in the fight against the pandemic.
In addition, two field hospitals specifically for COVID-19 treatment with a combined capacity of 600 have been set up in northern Hai Duong province, currently the biggest hotspot for the virus and a major transport link to northern localities, according to the ministry.
The ministry has also approved the emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, developed by multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Oxford University, expecting to apply them to citizens within the first quarter of this year, said health minister Nguyen Thanh Long.
During a cabinet meeting late Friday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked for extra efforts to quickly stamp out new COVID-19 outbreaks before the Lunar New Year Festival, which falls in mid-February.
Phuc stressed that the new variant of the virus is spreading very quickly, which demands more rapid actions and extensive testing, as well as the quick tracing of possible contacts of confirmed patients.
Source: Xinhua