• Vietnam records 2,454 new domestic Covid-19 cases Sunday morning and HCMC continued to lead with 1,756 cases.

• 16 southern localities to begin two weeks of strict social distancing

Vietnam confirms 2,454 new local Covid-19 patients Sunday morning, HCMC leads with more than 1,700 cases, following by Binh Duong with 281 new cases and Dong Nai with 75. The remaining cases were recorded in another 18 provinces and cities. Among the new cases, 2,226 were contained within quarantine centers or lockdown areas.

The HCMC Disease Control Center also registered another 626 cases on the Covid-19 national system that have been previously detected in the quarantine centers but have not been confirmed until now.

The new cases have raised the tally of the ongoing wave in HCMC to 29,081.

The local tally since the new wave started in late April is 47,343 cases in 58 provinces and cities.

Over 27,000 were vaccinated on Saturday. So far, the number of vaccinated people is more than 4.2 million, VNExpress reported.

16 southern localities including the entire Mekong Delta would undergo 14-day social distancing period starting Monday amid rising numbers of coronavirus infections.

The list has Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and 13 Mekong Delta localities: Can Tho, Tien Giang, Long An, Vinh Long, Dong Thap, Ben Tre, Hau Giang, An Giang, Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Ca Mau and Kien Giang, according to a decision issued by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Saturday.

The social distancing period will be imposed under Directive 16 with the most stringent social distancing regulations, requiring people to stay at home and only go out for basic necessities such as buying food or medicines or to work at factories or businesses that are allowed to open.

People must keep a distance of at least two meters. No more than two people can gather at public places apart from workplaces, schools or hospitals. The majority of public transportation will be shut down and there will be no travel to other localities.

The list means the entire southern region with 19 cities and provinces will be under strict social distancing.

The other three localities, HCMC and its industrial neighbors Binh Duong and Dong Nai, have already imposed social distancing order under Directive 16. HCMC and Dong Nai began their two-week period on July 9 while Binh Duong began social distancing in certain areas on different dates since late last month.

For these three, local authorities would decide whether they would follow their own social distancing timeline or restart from Monday.

The southern region, particularly HCMC, is taking the brunt in the worst coronavirus wave to ever hit Vietnam. Cases have been rising steadily over the past few days, with HCMC recording numbers in the thousands. Not every Covid-19 cases have been contact traced successfully, according to VNExpress.