HANOI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported 131,713 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, down 9,438 cases from Sunday, according to its Ministry of Health.
The new infections, logged in 63 localities nationwide, included 131,709 domestically transmitted and four imported.
Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 17,916 cases on Monday, followed by central Nghe An province with 5,403 cases, and northern Phu Tho province with 5,348 cases.
The infections brought the total tally to 8,089,761, with 41,949 deaths. Nationwide, 4,282,668 COVID-19 patients, or 53 percent of the infections, have recovered.
More than 201.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, including 184.8 million shots on people aged 18 and above, said the ministry.
Vietnam has gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication, and infectivity. As of Monday, it has registered nearly 8.1 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in April 2021, said the health ministry. ■