Mongolia's daily Covid cases exceed 3,000

Ulan Bator, Jan 19 (IANS) Mongolia recorded 3,088 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, exceeding the 3,000 mark for the first time since September 23 last year, bringing the national tally to 415,765, the country's health ministry said on Wednesday.

The latest confirmed cases were all locally transmitted, and more than half of them were detected in Ulan Bator, the hardest-hit area by the virus and home to over half of the country's population of 3.4 million.

Meanwhile, no more deaths due to the virus were reported in the past day, and the country's Covid death toll remains at 2,016, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since the beginning of this year, daily Covid infections have significantly increased across the country due to New Year celebrations and the Omicron variant.

The Omicron cases currently account for at least 90 per cent of new daily infections in the country, said Tsolmon Bilegtsaikhan, director of the National Centre for Communicable Diseases, urging the public to follow all relevant health guidelines.

So far, 66.7 per cent of the total population has received two Covid vaccine doses, while more than 979,390 people aged over 18 have received a third dose.

In addition, 49,504 Mongolians have received a fourth dose, which the country started to administer from January 7 on a voluntary basis.