COVID-19: New cases on December 28 total 14,440

Hanoi recorded the highest number of infections with 1,920, followed by Tay Ninh with 923 and Vinh Long with 911.

The national tally reached 1,680,985.

According to the Ministry of Health’s report, 7,103 patients nationwide are in serious conditions, with 802 requiring invasive ventilation and 19 on life support (ECMO).

On the day, the country saw 214 deaths from the disease. The death toll now hits 31,632, equal to 1.9 percent of the total caseload.

A total 4,668 patients were given the all-clear, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,264,282.

By December 27, the country had injected over 147.27 million doses of vaccines to date, with more than 66.86 million people now fully inoculated, while over 3.14 million third shots, either booster shots or the third shot of Abdala vaccine have been administered.

During the day, the country confirmed the first infection of the Omicron variant, who is a person returning from the UK.