HANOI, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported 15,236 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, including 15,215 locally transmitted and 21 imported, according to its Ministry of Health.
Most of the community cases were recorded in southern localities, including 1,246 in Ben Tre province, 1,071 in Ca Mau province and 1,040 in Ho Chi Minh City.
The infections brought the country's total tally to 1,508,473 with 29,103 deaths, said the ministry. Nationwide, 1,095,518 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered, up 31,057 from Thursday.
Nearly 137 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 60.2 million second shots, have been administered, according to the ministry.
Vietnam has by far gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication and infectivity. As of Friday, the country has registered over 1.5 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in late April, the ministry said. Enditem
