Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Hanoi – Vietnam recorded 178,112 new COVID-19 infections, including three imported cases, in the past 24 hours to 4pm on March 17, the Ministry of Health announced.

The capital city of Hanoi continued to log the highest number of infections with 25,311 cases.

It was followed by central Nghe An and northern Lao Cai provinces, which reported 10,511 and 9,574 infections, respectively.

Also on March 17, the northern provinces of Vinh Phuc and Hai Duong registered an additional 24,975 and 155,878 cases, respectively, on the national COVID-19 management system.

Vietnam’s total caseload now reaches 7,174,423, ranking 20 out of 225 countries and territories in the world.

As many as 135,683 patients were declared to be free from coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 on the day, raising the total number of recoveries to 3,685,988.

Meanwhile, the country’s death toll rose to 41,683 after 76 fatalities were announced on March 17, accounting for 0.6 percent of the total infections.

More than 201 million doses of vaccines had been administered to date.