Vietnam has received the first shipment of two million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine donated by the US government, the American embassy in Hanoi said, as the Southeast Asian country battles its worst outbreak.

The shipment, delivered via the Covax sharing facility, is part of the 80m vaccine doses President Joe Biden committed from US vaccine supplies to support global needs, the embassy said in an emailed statement.

The health ministry reported 1,625 new infections on Friday, the fifth straight day of more than 1,000 cases. Vietnam has recorded 26,600 infections overall and 110 deaths, which is still relatively low compared with European nations, India and the United States.