Vietnam reports 15,218 new COVID-19 cases, 1,651,673 in total

Vietnam reported 15,218 new COVID-19 cases on Dec. 26, including 15,182 locally transmitted and 36 imported, according to its Ministry of Health.

Among the localities, the Vietnamese capital Hanoi continued to log the highest number of infections on Sunday with 1,910 cases, followed by southern Tay Ninh province with 928 cases and southern Vinh Long with 889 cases.

The infections brought the country's total tally to 1,651,673 with 31,214 deaths, said the ministry. Nationwide, 1,248,240 COVID-19 patients have recovered, up 18,556 from Saturday.

Some 145.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including nearly 66 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 Sunday, the country has registered around 1.65 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in late April, the ministry said.