Vietnam records 16,763 new local Covid-19 cases

The three places with the highest numbers of new infections were Hanoi with 2,935 cases, Hai Phong with 1,139 and Da Nang with 943 cases.

This marks the first time ever that the daily tally in the northern port city of Hai Phong has crossed 1,000.

The Ministry of Health also announced another 184 Covid-19 deaths, including 30 in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap and 13 in the former epicenter HCMC, which recorded 226 infections on Tuesday. The total Covid death toll so far rose to 35,972, accounting for around 1.7 percent of all infections.

On Tuesday, the northern province of Quang Ninh announced two Omicron infections and both are people arriving from abroad. They have raised the number of Omicron cases in Vietnam until now to 70, all are foreign arrivals.

Of 247,464 Covid-19 patients under treatment in the country, 5,409 are severe cases.

Around 72.6 million people of Vietnam's 96-million population have been vaccinated with two doses and 18.8 million have received the third doses, including the ones of the three-dose combo for Cuba's Abdala vaccine.