Mongolia reports 361 new COVID-19 cases, 1 more death

Mongolia reported 361 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the second highest daily number since reporting its first case in March 2020, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Saturday.

"A total of 17,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted at 16 laboratories across the country yesterday, and 361 of them were positive," Enebish Temuulen, deputy director of the NCCD, said at a press conference.

The latest cases were locally transmitted, and 319 of the cases were detected in Ulan Bator, the country's capital and the hardest-hit city, and the remaining 42 cases were reported in five provinces, said Temuulen.

Mongolia has so far recorded a total of 6,693 cases, of which over 5,600 were detected in Ulan Bator, home to over half of the country's 3.3 million population. Domestic transmissions of the virus have been reported in the capital city and more than half of all 21 provinces of the country.

Meanwhile, one more death from the disease was reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 10, Temuulen said, attributing the fatality to a 73-year-old foreign man.

The country launched a national vaccination campaign in late February, with the aim of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its total population. About 269,400 people have been vaccinated so far, according to the health ministry.