Traffic police guard a Covid-19 checkpoint in HCMC, May 2021.
Photo by VnExpress/Huu Khoa 

Over 2,000 police officers have been infected and 10 have succumbed to Covid-19 thus far, Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Duy Ngoc said Monday. 

Speaking at the inauguration of the Phuoc Loc field hospital in HCMC's Nha Be District, Ngoc said the police force has stood side by side with the military and the health sector in performing tasks on the frontlines of the Covid-19 fight, ensuring security and order as well as participating in healthcare activities.

Recognizing the dangerous situation that the frontline forces including the police are caught in, the National Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control and the Ministry of Public Security reached agreement on building the Phuoc Loc field hospital with 300 beds to treat police and local people with Covid-19.

Since the new Covid-19 wave emerged in Vietnam late April, 445,292 infections have been recorded in 62 of its 63 cities and provinces. The Covid-19 death tally stands at 11,064, or 2.5 percent of infections.