Of them, 16 were recorded in Bac Ninh province, 10 in Bac Giang, three in Lang Son and one in Ho Chi Minh City.
The ministry also documented one imported case on the morning, bringing the total imported infections to 1,471.
As many as 1,502 COVID-19 patients were confirmed in the nation since it was hit by the fourth COVID-19 wave on April 27.
A total of 121,010 people who came in close contact with COVID-19 patients or arrived from pandemic-hit areas are being quarantined nationwide, including 2,217 at hospitals, 32,348 at other quarantine sites, and 86,445 at residences.
Among the COVID-19 patients, 37 have tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 once, 29 twice, and 23 thrice.
More than one million COVID-19 vaccine shots were given to frontline medical workers and members of community-based anti-COVID-19 groups in Vietnam as of 4pm on May 18. The country began its COVID-19 inoculation campaign on March 8.
The Ministry of Health said that Vietnam will receive 31 million Pfizer vaccine doses in Quarter III and Quarter IV.
According to Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, his ministry has spared no efforts to seek vaccine sources for the nation, and around 110 million doses will be supplied for Vietnam this year, 38.9 million doses of which are from COVAX Facility, 30 million from AstraZeneca, and 31 million from Pfizer/BioNTech.
Furthermore, the ministry has registered to buy additional 10 million doses through COVAX under the cost share mechanism.
Negotiations are underway to purchase more vaccines from Moderna, Johnson&Johnson, CureVac, Spunik V and Sinopharm, helping diversify vaccine sources to serve the locals, he added.
Currently, four Vietnamese vaccines are under development, produced by Nagogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1 (Vabiotech) and the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (Polyvac).
