Vietnam confirms 28,291 new local Covid-19 cases

Most of the cases were detected in central Khanh Hoa at 12,928 cases. It was followed by Hanoi with 2,948 and Binh Dinh Province with 702 cases.

The southern province of Long An recorded its first Covid-19 patient with the Omicron variant, a 57-year-old Chinese man who works as an expert for a company.

He traveled from Uganda and landed in HCMC on December 25.

Vietnam has recorded 32 Omicron cases to date, all of them quarantined upon arrival.

In the past 24 hours, 177 Covid-19 patients have died, including 18 in HCMC and 13 in Hanoi.

Since the pandemic started last year, the death toll in Vietnam has climbed to 34,964, or 1.8 percent of all infections.

In the latest wave that hit the country in late April, more than 1.95 million cases have been confirmed and 1.63 million them have recovered.

So far, 74.1 percent of the population have been vaccinated with two doses.