HANOI, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam recorded 2,965 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, down by 142 from Wednesday, according to its ministry of health.

Among the new cases, only two were imported and the rest were all locally transmitted, said the ministry.

The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 11,450,999. The country reported five new deaths from the pandemic in the southern provinces of An Giang, Tay Ninh and Dong Nai on Thursday, bringing the total fatalities to 43,137.

As of Thursday, there were 184 severe cases in need of assisted breathing in the Southeast Asian country, according to the ministry.

Nationwide, 10,448,813 COVID-19 patients, or over 91 percent of the total infections, have recovered.

Nearly 259.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, including over 220 million shots on people aged 18 and above, said the ministry.

Vietnam has already recorded COVID-19 infections with the Omicron BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.12.1 and BA.2.74 sub-variants and is accelerating the inoculation of its people with a fourth vaccine dose.