HCMC coronavirus tally crosses 5,000, two days after hitting 4,000

The southern metropolis's local infections are up by more than 1,000 from Thursday noon.

Most of the remaining cases were recorded in southern and central provinces, bringing the tally on Saturday so far to 568.

32 cases were recorded in Binh Duong, 12 each in Phu Yen and Dong Thap, seven in Nghe An, four in Lam Dong, three in Vinh Long, two each in Long An and Tra Vinh, and one each in Khanh Hoa, Bac Lieu, Bac Ninh, Binh Phuoc, An Giang and Dak Lak.

In HCMC, 206 cases were found in quarantine zones and locked down areas. 43 others are being contact traced.

Five cases in its neighbor Binh Duong are close contact cases, 23 cases are linked to companies in Ben Cat, Thu Dau Mot and Thuan An towns. Four cases are being contact traced.

All the cases in Phu Yen, Nghe An, Lam Dong, Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa in the central region, Tra Vinh and An Giang in the Mekong Delta, and the northern province of Bac Ninh are close contact cases.

10 cases in the Mekong Delta's Dong Thap are close contact cases, another returned from Binh Duong and another returned from the delta's Tien Giang, another hotspot.

Two cases in the delta's Vinh Long returned from the nearby Dong Thap, while the other one is a close contact case.

One case in Long An, another delta province bordering HCMC, is contained within a locked down area, while the other one is being contact traced.

The case in the delta's Bac Lieu, a six-year-old boy, and the one in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, a 39-year-old man, returned from HCMC.

Vietnam has recorded 15,284 cases in 52 of its 63 cities and provinces since the fourth Covid-19 wave broke out in the nation on April 27.

Bac Giang still leads with 5,710 cases, with HCMC closing in at 5,187 cases.