HANOI, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported 65,619 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the lowest in over a month, down 6,937 cases from Friday, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections, logged in 61 localities nationwide, included 65,616 domestically transmitted and three imported.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 7,423 new cases on Saturday, followed by the central highlands Dak Lak province with 3,999 and the central Nghe An province with 2,911.

The infections brought the country's total tally to 9,716,282, with 42,563 deaths. Nationwide, 7,713,354 COVID-19 patients, or 79 percent of the infections, have recovered.

Nearly 206.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, including 189.3 million shots on people aged 18 and above, said the ministry.

Vietnam has gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication, and infectivity. As of Saturday, it has registered over 9.7 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in April 2021, said the health ministry.