People wait for Covid-19 vaccination in HCM City
According to the ministry's report, the national caseload has so far increased to 11,376,571.
On August 18, an additional 8,877 more patients recovered from the disease, raising the number of recoveries in the country to over 10.04 million.
On Thursday evening, no deaths from Covid-19 were recorded, the country's total fatalities stayed at 43,103, accounting for 0.4 per cent of total infections.
By August 18, the country had injected more than 252 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
Vietnam has not yet drafted plans to give Covid-19 vaccines to children under five years old. The country is targeting the completion of Covid-19 inoculation for children aged between 5 - 11 in August, as well as the administration of the third shot for those aged 12 - 17, as well as the third and fourth doses to people aged 18 and above as soon as possible.
The country has detected a number of new, highly-contagious Omicron sub-variants, including BA.2.74, besides other variants of BA.4, BA.5, and BA.2.12.1, according to the department.