According to the ministry's report, 16,522 of the new patients are locally-transmitted cases confirmed in 60 out of 63 localities in the country with five localities seeing the highest numbers including Hanoi (1,646), Ca Mau (1,193), HCM City (979), Tay Ninh (923), and Vinh Long (846). There were 33 imported patients confirmed today.
The new infections showed an increase of 206 cases compared to yesterday's figure. There were 10,938 infections found in the community.
As of Wednesday evening, 1,582,783 infections had been reported since the new outbreak occurred in the country in late April. Some localities that have recorded the highest number of patients include HCM City (497,162), Binh Duong (289,613), Dong Nai (95,761), Tay Ninh (66,823), and Long An (39,831).
With these new infection cases, the number of Covid-19 patients in Vietnam has increased to 1,588,335. The country now stands 32nd among 223 countries and territories worldwide in the number of infections.
On December 22, an additional 13,394 more patients recovered from the disease, raising the number of recoveries in the country to 1,173,484.
On Wednesday evening, a further 210 deaths related to Covid-19 were announced, bringing the total number of fatalities in Vietnam to 30,251. The deaths were reported in some localities including HCM City (46), An Giang (27), Binh Duong (17), Tien Giang (15), Tay Ninh (13), Dong Thap (12), Soc Trang (11), Can Tho (11), Kien Giang (10), Vinh Long (8 ), Binh Thuan (6), Ba Ria - Vung Tau (6), Hanoi (5), Bac Lieu (5), Ca Mau (5), Long An (4), Tra Vinh (3), Binh Dinh (2), Ben Tre (2), Dak Lak (1), and Hau Giang (1).
Vietnam on December 21 administered 1.03 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines. The country has so far conducted over 141.08 million Covid-19 vaccine shots, with over 63.30 million people having received two doses.