Viet Nam confirmed 238 local infection cases and 31 imported cases of COVID-19 while 32 patients were declared free of the virus from January 25-31.

All the aforesaid local cases are linked to the fresh outbreaks in Hai Duong and Quang Ninh Province, bringing the national tally to 1,817 as of 6:00pm on Sunday.

Since the emergence of the new outbreaks, nine localities have reported COVID-19 patients, namely Hai Duong (188 cases), Ha Noi (15 cases including the two latest cases which were confirmed on early February 1), Hoa Binh province (two cases), Bac Ninh province (three cases), Quang Ninh (25 cases), Hai Phong (one case), Gia Lai (four cases), HCMC (one case), and Binh Duong (one case).

Among the 31 imported cases, there were four foreign experts who came from Costa Rica, the U.S., and China. The rest were Vietnamese nationals repatriated from Japan, Indonesia (one), the U.S. (16), Germany (seven), and France (two).

With 32 recovered patients over the past week, the total number of recoveries increased to 1,457. The number of COVID-19 fatalities remained at 35 while two of the current active cases are in critical health conditions.

A total of 26,861 people who had been in close contact with COVID-19 patients or returned from pandemic-stricken areas are under quarantine and medical surveillance across the country.

Currently 13 foreign COVID-19 patients are being treated at Vietnamese hospitals including four Russians, one British, one Austrian, four American, one Costa Rican and one Indian.

In response to the quick surge of cases (infected with new variant in the northern provinces of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh), over the past day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued a directive rolling out urgent measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

The Government chief ordered lockdown of the entire Chi Linh city in Hai Duong and 21-day social distancing there, starting from January 28.

Prime Minister Phuc asked for doubling efforts to quickly stamp out new COVID-19 outbreaks before the lunar New Year festival, which falls in mid-February.

The Health Ministry approved the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for used in Viet Nam. This is the first COVID-19 vaccine approved by Viet Nam so far.