ULAN BATOR, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 2,433 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, exceeding 2,000 cases a day for the first time since July 4 and bringing the national tally to 199,274, the country's health ministry said Wednesday.
Six more patients died from the disease, pushing the death toll to 913, according to the ministry.
The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant has been more prevalent, the ministry said, urging unvaccinated people, children under 12, the elderly and those suffering chronic diseases to stay at home.
The disease has spread to the capital city of Ulan Bator and all 21 provinces of the country, and the Delta variant, in particular, has been detected in the capital and at least nine provinces.
So far, 63.5 percent of the population have been fully vaccinated against the virus in the Asian country, which launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to inoculate at least 60 percent of its population of 3.3 million.
The Delta variant, first identified in India and also referred to as a "double mutant" because it carries two mutations, is 55 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant first discovered in Britain, and will rapidly become the dominant strain of coronavirus globally, according to the World Health Organization. Enditem
