A Covid-19 checkpoint in Go Vap District, HCMC, June 3, 2021.
Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran. 

Health authorities confirmed 79 new local Covid-19 cases in three localities Thursday evening, raising the daily tally to 231. 

Of the evening's cases, 58 were recorded in the northern province of Bac Giang, 10 in neighboring Bac Ninh and 11 in Ho Chi Minh City.

All the cases in Bac Giang and Bac Ninh are associated with outbreaks in the provinces' industrial parks and other locked down areas. They had been quarantined prior to test results.

Of the cases in HCMC, nine are linked to the Revival Ekklesia Mission, a self-described Christian congregation. Of the two remaining cases, one is that of a woman living in Binh Tan District and working at the South Saigon General Hospital. She tested positive during regular screening at the hospital. The other patient lives in Thu Duc City and was found infected after visiting a hospital for a health check. The sources of transmission remain unknown in the two cases.

Thursday’s cases raised HCMC's tally in the fourth wave to 288, more than 260 linked to the religious mission.

After Vietnam was hit by a new Covid-19 wave more than five weeks ago, 4,956 community transmissions have been recorded in 37 of its 63 cities and provinces.

The country has recorded more than 200 cases every day for the past 10 days. This did not happen in the previous three waves or during the first weeks of the fourth wave.

Bac Giang and Bac Ninh now have the highest number of infections, at 2,678 and 951, respectively.