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Health authorities recorded almost 150 locally-transmitted coronavirus infections in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, as Vietnam has been struggling with the fourth transmission wave – and the worst so far – since late April.

One hundred and forty-nine cases were detected in the community, the municipal Center for Disease Control (HCDC) said in a report.

This is the biggest-ever daily case increase the city has reported since the virus first emerged in the country early last year.

The patients were related to about 20 transmission chains, with a dozen cases showing no clear source of infection.

The southern economic hub has found 1,346 community cases since April 27, when the fourth virus wave broke out in Vietnam.

The pathogen is silently spreading in the community so everyone should adhere to social distancing rules, reinstated on May 31, and limit unnecessary interactions, the HCDC said.

Those finding that they are at risk of infection should immediately contact local medical providers for help, it added.

The Ministry of Health documented 259 local COVID-19 cases nationwide on Friday, including 149 in Ho Chi Minh City, 76 in Bac Giang Province, 16 in Bac Ninh Province, 12 in Binh Duong Province, three in Ha Tinh Province, two in Hoa Binh Province, and one in Lao Cai Province.

A total of 232 cases were logged in quarantined or isolated areas, the ministry noted, adding 80 recoveries were recorded the same day.

Vietnam has registered 9,173 domestic infections in this wave, 1,840 of which has been found since Monday.

Bac Giang is leading with 5,083 patients, followed by Bac Ninh with 1,470 and Ho Chi Minh City.

By comparison, Vietnam confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021.

The Southeast Asian nation has reported an aggregate of 12,414 patients, including 10,742 local and 1,672 imported cases.

The number of recovered patients stands at 4,733 while 62 have died, most having suffered critical underlying conditions.

Nearly two million AstraZeneca vaccine shots had been administered and almost 90,000 people had been fully inoculated by Thursday, according to the health ministry’s data.

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A mass coronavirus inoculation drive with over 800,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses will be carried out in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday at around 1,000 vaccination points, a high-ranking health official has said.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son made the statement on Thursday when he joined the municipal Pasteur Institute to inspect the storage of 836,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine jabs having been allocated by the central government to the city.

These doses, developed by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, are among nearly one million shots of the vaccine the Japanese government donated to Vietnam on Wednesday.

This allocation reflected a priority the government and the National Vaccine Steering Board has given to the nine-million-strong city to help it expand the immunization coverage and thereby drive back the increasing COVID-19 spread, which has so far affected the entire southern city, Deputy Minister Son said.

The vaccine doses underwent required tests lasting for 48 hours at the Vaccine Testing Institute for safety certification before use, the deputy minister said.

This supplied photo shows the AstraZeneca vaccine shipment upon its arrival at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on June 16, 2021.

The vaccination drive is expected to start on Saturday at 1,000 points of inoculation citywide and will last for five or seven days, making it the largest-ever mass COVID-19 immunization in the city.

The inoculation will be intended for priority subjects designated by the government and others including essential service providers, teachers, health workers, people working at administrative agencies, people over 65 years old, and workers at industrial parks and export processing zones.

Each point will vaccinate 200 people per day, which means a total of 200,000 people can receive injections per day.

City authorities have drawn up a plan to mobilize all possible health workers and facilities for the mass inoculation, the deputy minister said, adding that lists of vaccination must be made available within Friday.

“It is a principle that this mass immunization is conducted quickly but must ensure absolute safety for vaccinated people,” Son requested.

Ho Chi Minh City health authorities recently reported that around 11,000 locals have been vaccinated since June 3, bringing the total number of inoculated people to about 84,000 since the city began its immunization program on March 8.

Nationwide, nearly two million vaccine shots had been administered and 90,000 people had received the full two doses by Thursday, according to the health ministry’s data.

The ministry confirmed 121 new coronavirus cases at noon on Friday, including 119 domestic and two imported cases, of which 59 were detected Ho Chi Minh City.

The new cases have taken the Southeast Asian country’s tally of patients to 12,352, including 62 deaths, since early 2020.

Since April 27, when the pandemic’s fourth wave appeared in Vietnam, the country has documented 9,114 domestic infections.

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