On Friday, the Ministry of Health reported 9,180 cases, so the total number has risen to 255,748, a figure that is 74 times higher than that of April 27, when there was a new surge aggravated by the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

However, according to the rate of contagions per one million inhabitants (2,601), Vietnam ranks in the 172nd place in the world.

The territories were the epidemiological situation is more complicated are the southern Ho Chi Minh City and the neighboring Binh Duong province, which reported nearly 70 percent of cases as a whole on Friday.

The fourth wave of this disease also skyrocketed the death toll, which stood at 35 in late April, but reached 5,088 on Friday, that is, 145 times higher.

Despite Vietnam’s huge efforts to purchase vaccines from different countries and organizations, the immunization campaign is running behind schedule: only slightly more than one percent of its 97 million inhabitants has received two shots, and less than eight percent has received one jab.

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