Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Thuan said Wednesday that medical, police and military personnel need to be mobilized to achieve this capacity, adding his ministry would speed up the vaccination rate when more vaccines arrive.

So far 11.4 million of the 19 million shots it has received have been used.

Ho Chi Minh City, the current epicenter of the disease, has used around 3.6 million doses of the over four million it has got.

For Hanoi the rate is 1.5 million out of over 2.9 million.

Thuan said the capital would speed up vaccination soon.

In the south, the number of cases has exceeded treatment capacity, he said, adding infections should be classified accurately based on their severity to prevent overloading and possible deaths.

So far the 19 southern localities have put up 141 field hospitals and ICUs, and over 11,000 medical workers have been dispatched from across the country by the health ministry to assist them.

Vietnam has recorded 237,538 cases in the fourth wave that began in late April. Ho Chi Minh City remains the epicenter with 135,485.