VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES SEPTEMBER 6
15:46
Vietnam ranks eighth in IPv6 adoption worldwide
Vietnam’s Internet Protocol version
6 (IPv6) adoption rate reached 45 percent, ranking second in ASEAN and eighth
globally, up two places from 2020, according to the Vietnam Internet Network
Information Centre (VNNIC). In Vietnam,
34 million mobile and 11 million Internet subscribers are using IPv6
services, and the figures have been on the rise over the past two years. Some
organisations and businesses posting the highest IPv6 transition rate as of
August 2021 included the Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group
(Viettel), Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), and FPT
Telecom, among others. Vietnamese
firms are advised to build IPv6 adoption planning and efficiently apply
digital resources and infrastructure. IPv6 is
expected to meet Vietnam’s demand to offer new and quality services such as
Internet of Things, 4G-LTE and 5G networks, contributing to digital
transformation and digital government building./. Music video encourages medical workers in pandemic fight A music
video entitled “Nhung thien than ao trang” (Angles in scrubs) has been
released to encourage medical workers in the frontline of the fight against
COVID-19. The MV is
made by two singers from the central province of Nghe An, spotlighting
efforts and sacrifice by medical workers who are working hard to stamp out
the pandemic. It features
images of doctors and nurses in the COVID-19 fight as well as the tradition
of mutual support of Vietnamese people in hard times. After the
pandemic is controlled, professional artists from the Vietnam Music Academy
will remake the MV with singer Dang Duong as the main vocalist./. AI talents invited to join cooperation network with Australia The Ministry
of Science and Technology (MoST) and partners are calling on individuals and
organisations working in artificial intelligence (AI) to join an AI
cooperation network between Vietnam and Australia. The Vietnam
- Australia AI cooperation network, launched by the MoST, aims to help
promote the national AI strategy. The network
looks gather Vietnamese individuals, businesses, and organisations working in
AI, both at home and abroad, to cooperate with Australian partners, hoped to
serve as a prerequisite for building a community of sustainable AI
cooperation in Vietnam and the world in the future. It will
create opportunities for those in the AI sector to connect with one another
and access AI support policies and programmes issued by state agencies,
firstly the MoST. Participating
businesses will have a chance to connect with specialists to find AI solutions
while partnering with domestic and foreign counterparts in AI application and
technology transfer. MoST Deputy
Minister Bui The Duy said the network will initially develop a management
software and an online community space for members to share opinions on AI
development in Vietnam. It will
later boost cooperation with many other countries and work towards building a
sustainable AI community with various activities facilitating the computer
science in the country. Via this
network, Vietnam looks forward to learning from Australia as well as other
countries to create a favorable environment for AI development in Vietnam,
thus realising the ambitious goal set out in the national AI strategy -
bringing Vietnam to the top four of ASEAN and top 50 in the world in AI
research, development and application by 2030, the official added./. Winners of video-making contest “Vietnam in my mind” honoured The
Association of Vietnamese Communities in the Republic of Korea (AVCK)
announced winners of a video-making contest named “Vietnam trong toi”
(Vietnam in my mind) in a virtual event livestreamed last weekend. The competition
was held by AVCK under the patronage of the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK on
the occasion of Vietnam's 76th National Day (September 2). The contest
aimed to provide a playground for Vietnamese people to show their
creativeness and cheer them up during the time of COVID-19. A total of 18
entries were sent to the competition in the forms of short films,
documentaries and others from July 26 to August 16. Le Van Hung,
First Secretary of the Vietnamese Embassy and one of the judges, said most of
the entries reflect the love of Vietnamese expats for their motherland. There were
one first, second, and third prizes for both individual and team categories
alongside three honourable mentions for three individuals. Additionally,
the organizer also presented awards of impression and viewers’ choice. The AVCK has
also launched a fundraising campaign called “Trao gui yeu thuong” (Sending
out love) appealing for donations of cash and necessities to aid the COVID-19
fight back home. As of 8pm on September 2, it had raised nearly 80 million
VND (3,515 USD)./. PM chairs national teleconference on COVID-19 prevention and
control
Prime
Minister Pham Minh Chinh on September 5 afternoon chaired a national
teleconference between the National Steering Committee for COVID-19
Prevention and Control, and localities on the fight against the pandemic. The meeting
was connected to more than 9,000 locations in communes, wards and towns, 705
districts and townships, and 63 provinces and cities across the country. PM Chinh,
who is also head of the national steering committee, acknowledged and praised
the efforts, unity and consensus of party committees, administrations,
Fatherland Front Committees at all levels as well as officials and people in
localities in implementing social distancing. He also
commended frontline forces such as health workers, military officers and
soldiers, policemen and volunteers for their endeavors to overcome
difficulties and hardships to step up the pandemic combat. The
government leader stressed that considering communes and wards as fortresses
and each person as a soldier and placing people at the centre of the fight
against the pandemic is a sound policy. However, the
efficiency of COVID-19 prevention and control is not high as expected because
the implementation remained limited and showed shortcomings in many
localities, he said. The pandemic
is still complicated and unpredictable, he said, adding that the continued
implementation of social distancing will cause difficulties for people,
stagnate production activities and disrupt supply chains. Therefore,
PM Chinh asked administrations at all levels, sectors and localities to
double efforts to soon control the pandemic, thus bringing the life to new
normal. He requested
localities to strengthen the apparatus of their steering committees for
COVID-19 prevention and control with secretaries of party committees working
as heads, and set up command centres led by chairpersons of people’s committees. Localities
applying social distancing must define their targets, roadmaps and measures
to improve the efficiency of the pandemic fight and avoid extending social
distancing without achieving the set goals, affecting socio-economic
development and people’s lives, he said. The PM
demanded localities to strictly carry out five major tasks, namely strictly
taking social distancing regulations; ensuring social security and not
letting people lack food and necessities; guaranteeing people get early
access to medical services right in communes and wards; maintaining social
order and safety; and step up communication campaigns to help people better
understand and join hands with the entire political system in the fight
against the pandemic. Localities
were required to coordinate with sectors, especially the health sector, to
conduct large-scale testing for all people in an effective and safe manner,
while expanding and enhancing treatment capacity. He said the
government considered the vaccine strategy an extremely important factor as
leaders of the Party and State, the PM, sectors and agencies have spared no
efforts to perform vaccine diplomacy in a bid to secure vaccines as many as
and as quickly as possible for people. Regarding
production and circulation of goods, the PM asked for the gradual recovery
and stepping up of production in localities that complete social distancing
period, while ensuring safety and strictly implementing pandemic prevention
and control regulations in industrial parks, and production and business
establishments./. Viet Nam starts seven-day quarantine for fully vaccinated
entrants in pilot program Viet Nam
started to pilot seven-day quarantine policy for fully vaccinated entrants. A Viet Nam
airlines flights carrying 297 Vietnamese people from Japan lands at Van Don
International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh on September 4,
2021. The first
flight carrying 297 Vietnamese passengers from Japan landed at Van Don
International Airport in Quang Ninh province on September 4 All these
passengers will be quarantined for SEVEN days instead of 14 days as they have
received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with the second dose taken 14 days
but no more than 12 months prior to the entry date. The
passengers are also required to show proof of negative RT-PCR/RT-LAMP
COVID-19 test result issued within 72 hours before departure. Pham Ngoc
Sau, Director of the Van Don International Airport said the passengers have
to strictly follow COVID-19 prevention and control measures deployed at the
airport, complete immigration and customs procedures at a separate zone. It is
expected that the airport will receive a flight carrying Vietnamese people
back home from the U.S. on September 12. The Van Don
airport has been one of the airports designated for 228 repatriation flights
since March 22, 2020 when the Viet Nam began to suspend entry of foreign
arrivals but but this policy is not applicable to diplomats, officials,
foreign investors, experts, and skilled workers./. More than 3,100 children Covid-19 patients under treatment in
HCMC The Ho Chi
Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC), on September 5, said that the
Ministry of Health announced 245,707 Covid-19 cases detected in the city by 6
a.m. on September 4, with 245,247 community transmissions and 460 imported
cases. Currently,
the city is treating 42,862 patients, including 3,106 children under the ages
of 16, 2,770 critically ill patients on ventilators, and 22 patients with
ECMO intervention. On September 4, 2,266 patients were discharged from the
hospital, raising the total number of recovered patients from January 1,
2021, to now to 122,775. There were 256 deaths on the day. The total
number of vaccines that HCMC has administered by September 3 is 6,321,049
doses, an increase of 52,722 injections compared to the previous day. The
total number of people with the first dose is 5,923,063, and that with the
second dose is 397,986. The number of people over 65 years old and people
with background disease being vaccinated is 691,358. From April
27 to September 3, the city had taken 1,673,162 test samples, including
1,026,676 single samples and 646,486 pooled ones, from 6,006,140 people in
quarantine areas, lockdown areas, buildings, residential areas, industrial
parks, and export processing zones. The total number of samples without
results was 9,144, including 5,588 single samples and 3,556 pooled ones. The city has
organized mobile medical stations to take care of and monitor F0 under home
treatment. When conducting quick testing and detecting F0 cases, mobile
medical stations will grasp information quickly and process it promptly,
contributing to reducing the pressure on hospitals. HCMC has also distributed
medicine bags A, B, and C for F0 to treat at home. By September
3, the number of Covid-19 cases being isolated, monitored, and treated at
home was 109,728 people. Particularly, 84,138 cases were isolated at home as
soon as they were detected, and 25,590 people were isolated after leaving the
hospitals. The number
of Covid-19 cases being isolated, monitored, and treated at concentrated
isolation facilities in districts was 23,819 people. The number of F1 cases
under concentrated isolation was 2,823. The number of F1 cases being isolated
at home was 20,947. HCM City workers get second dose against COVID-19 Ho Chi Minh
City, the epicenter of Vietnam’s fresh coronavirus outbreak, began
vaccinating workers at its export processing and industrial zones with a
second dose against COVID-19 on September 5. According to
regulations, they are all required to undergo a negative COVID-19 quick test
within 72 hours before injections. Getting
fully vaccinated this time helps not only workers but also their families and
businesses feel more secure in their operations, said Nguyen Thai Thanh, vice
president of the Trade Union of the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing &
Industrial Zones. Currently,
approximately 9,500 people are working at Tan Thuan zone under the ‘3
on-site’ model, meaning workers work, sleep and eat right at their workplace.
Thanh said the Trade Union will coordinate with local health sector to
inoculate all the workers there in the coming time. The city has
so far vaccinated more than 519,000 workers, including 237,700 females, at
3,458 businesses of different sizes. It has stepped up vaccinations for
workers in order to maintain a safe labour force for businesses, especially
export processing and industrial zones. Binh Duong accelerates vaccine rollout to return to new normal The southern
province of Binh Duong is stepping up vaccine rollout in a bid to return to
new normal by September 15. The ramp-up
in inoculations means the southern industrial hub needs to administer 250,000
vaccine doses per day. The local
authorities have mobilized its health workers and supportive medical forces
to join the process. As of
Saturday, as many as 1,134,176 local residents received the first vaccine
jabs, accounting for 42 percent of the locality’s population. Of these,
46,080 people were fully vaccinated. Since April
27 when the fourth COVID-19 wave hit Viet Nam, Binh Duong recorded 128,983
infection cases, making it the second worst-affected locality after nearby Ho
Chi Minh City – the current epicenter of the country’s outbreak./. Da Nang eases restrictions after 20-day hard lockdown The central
city of Đà Nẵng will reopen traditional markets, online shopping and
take-away services in ‘green zones’, while QR codes will be given to local
residents so they can travel to work, hospitals and stores from
Sunday (September 5). Residents in
14 ‘green’ wards and living areas are allowed to exercise from 5 to 7am, and
one member of a family can go to the market every five days in the
‘green zone’ area only. Meanwhile, people in ‘risk zones’, marked in
yellow, can go out for medicine or first aid, but those
in ‘red’ or ‘very high risk’ areas will be in lockdown with delivery
services provided by community teams. The city’s
people’s committee said frontline forces and local residents have made
great efforts during a 20-day lockdown, reducing infection cases in the
community from an average of 150 or 200 to 47 per day as of Saturday. It said
2,400 sources of coronavirus infections (F0) had been cleared in the
three-week lockdown with five mass testing programmes. The city
said 480 COVID-19 patients had been released from hospitals on three days
from September 3-5, meaning the number of patients recovering from
coronavirus reached 980 in a month (from August 25 to September 5). Doctors from
Hòa Vang field hospital said a mother with COVID-19 gave birth to a boy on
August 27, and the mother and son left the hospital on Sunday after nine
days of treatment. They will be quarantined at home for two more weeks with
medical checks from the local health centre. According to
the city’s Centre for Disease Control, more than 2,000 medical staff will be
mobilised for quick and mass vaccination programmes in the coming days,
focusing on residents in ‘green zones', teachers and labourers in industrial
zones. Local people
can post online health declarations or suspected coronavirus symptoms for
home testing. In three
days between September 2-4, 550 residents living in ‘very high risk’ areas in
Thanh Khê District had been taken to ‘safe’ quarantine sites for isolation. The city
will provide VNĐ113 billion (US$4.9 million) in financial aid to support
368,000 households including 66,000 migrant workers and students. The city
had allocated the first aid package of VNĐ71 billion to 142,000 households
last month. More than
280,000 students in the city will join online learning programmes in the two
first weeks of the new school year from Monday (September 6). The city will
exempt school fees in the 2020-21 school term for all students with
coronavirus. The city
also set up a hotline to support foreigners working and living in
Đà Nẵng during the lockdown and social distancing orders from late August.
Vice director of the city’s foreign affairs department, Nguyễn Thúy Anh said
the hotline had received at least 180 phone calls and emails. Up to 4,800
foreigners are living mainly in Ngũ Hành Sơn and Sơn Trà districts. She said
five hotlines are available for foreigners in English, Chinese, Korean and
Japanese in Sơn Trà, Ngũ Hành Sơn, Hải Châu, Cẩm Lệ and Liên Chiểu districts. She said
foreigners could contact the phone numbers and email for assistance. HCMC needs to gradually reopen amid Covid-19 pandemic with
strict management HCMC is
seeking measures for the economic activities amid the ongoing Covid-19
pandemic. Districts of 7 and Cu Chi have been selected to trial the
implementation of returning life in the “new normal" state and learn to
live with the virus. The
statement was made by Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen at
a meeting with the press on the sidelines of the working session with
District 7’s authorities on September 5. The virus
won't go away and the city can not separate all people infected with Covid-19
from those who are not infected as well as continue to extend social
distancing rules, but high vaccination rates, knowledge and practice of
personal protective measures during the pandemic are necessary and sufficient
conditions, he said. Earlier, the
Ministry of Health has encouraged people to follow the 5K message, including
Khau trang (face masks), Khu khuan (Disinfection), Khoang cach (Safe
distance), Khong tap trung (No gathering) – Khai bao y te (Health
declaration). Now the message also includes "Khong khi va moi truong
thong thoang" (airy atmosphere and fresh environment), and "Suc khoe
the chat va tinh than" (mental and physical health). Especially, the
living habits and behavior of residents play an important role, he stressed. In addition,
the city has to improve the healthcare system and implement the dual goals of
preventing the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuring safety for production and
business. The
municipal authorities has delegated functional units including scientists,
healthcare professionals, sociologists to study problems relating to
environment and the environmental factors associated with infectious
diseases. District 7
has become the first HCMC locality to bring Covid-19 under control. The
municipal authorities will give a priority to allocate vaccines to the
district and improve the healthcare system to help the locality to ease
social distancing step by step. Regarding to
Cu Chi District’s proposal on implementing rapid antigen test to control
vehicles and people entering or exiting the locality, he said that Cu Chi
wants to protect the district’s green zones where are not affected by the
pandemic. However, when the city and southern localities will gradually lift
social distancing rules in coming time, the localities must carry out the
application of information technology in management of people’s activities. Plans of the
evacuation bringing local residents to the temporary shelters aims to prevent
the spread of Covid-19 and the number of confirmed cases as well as protect
the people’s health have not been taken yet because the city is unable to
meet demand. When the
pandemic can be under control, the City Party Chief said that the first thing
he wants to do is building social houses for low-income people. If the city
has land, issues policies and a call for investment, businesses will
participate in the projects. COVID-19: Hanoi permits motorbike shippers to operate from 9am
to 8pm Motorbike
shippers in the capital city of Hanoi have been allowed to operate between
9am and 8pm every day during the period of social distancing. The
municipal People’s Committee made the decision following a proposal submitted
by the Department of Transport. All
shippers, accordingly, will have to furnish a certificate with negative PCR
or rapid antigen test results in line with the Ministry of Health's
regulations. The People’s
Committee asked the Departments of Public Security, and Transport and
relevant agencies to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control measures during
the implementation of the decision. Hanoi will
divide its localities into three zones for the application of different
COVID-19 prevention and control measures starting from September 6. The division
will be based on the level of pandemic outbreak risk as well as
characteristics of each locality such as geography, population and
production, thus ensuring pandemic control measures and maintaining
production. Accordingly,
the Prime Minister’s Directive 16, and stricter pandemic prevention and
control measures and travel restrictions will continue to be applied in zone
1, comprising 10 districts - Tay Ho, Ba Dinh, Cau Giay, Hoan Kiem, Dong Da,
Hai Ba Trung, Thanh Xuan, Ha Dong, Thanh Tri and Hoang Mai; and parts of the
five districts of Nam Tu Liem, Bac Tu Liem, Hoai Duc, Thanh Oai, and Thuong
Tin. Transport
connecting with zone 2 and zone 3 will be tightly controlled with 23
checkpoints. Authorities in zone 1 are requested to make careful preparation
to avoid disruption of supply chains of food and necessities. Meanwhile,
the PM’s Directive 15 will be carried out in zone 2 which covers five
districts - Long Bien, Gia Lam, Dong Anh, Soc Son and Me Linh. Higher
measures will be applied in areas with higher risks to match each locality’s
production situation. Safe
production will be maintained in zone 2 using “three-on-site” or “one
route-two destinations” models. Meanwhile,
looser measures will be implemented in zone 3, covering agricultural
production areas and industrial parks and clusters with low population
density including 10 districts - Ba Vi, Son Tay, Phuc Tho, Dan Phuong, Thach
That, Quoc Oai, Chuong My, Ung Hoa, My Duc, and Phu Xuyen, and the remaining
parts of the five districts in zone 1 - Nam Tu Liem, Bac Tu Liem, Hoai Duc,
Thanh Oai and Thuong Tin. The capital
city has also designed regulations on inter-regional operation mechanisms
with an aim to tightly controlling zone 1 as well as the travel flow from
zone 1 to zone 2 and zone 3, and ensuring the continuity of production and
supply chain. After three
times of applying social distancing along with mass testing, the city has
found that infections mostly concentrated in inner districts, while lower
risks are seen in other localities. The division
into three zones is expected to help the city prevent the spread of the
pandemic and focus on stamping out COVID-19 in high-risk areas./. Futsal players arrive in Lithuania for World Cup 2021 finals Vietnamese
futsal players have left Spain for Lithuania where they are due to clash with
Brazil, the Czech Republic and Panama at the coming FIFA Futsal World Cup
2021. With the
suspension of the domestic futsal tournament due to COVID-19, international
friendlies gave chief coach Pham Minh Giang the chance to review positions of
the squad for big games ahead. Captain Tran
Van Vu told fifa.com that all the players are in good form, aiming to cruise
into Round 1/8 as they did five years ago. While in
Lithuania, Vietnam will play another friendly game against Morocco on
September 6 before beginning their quest at the World Cup 2021. According to
an earlier draw, Vietnam are in Group D alongside world defending champions
Brazil, the Czech Republic and Panama. They are
scheduled to take on Brazil on September 13, Panama on September 17 and the
Czech Republic two days later. This is the
second time Vietnam have competed in the FIFA Futsal World Cup. In their
first global competition in Colombia five years ago, Vietnam made history
after storming into Round 1/8. Military Medical Academy shares information on immunogenicity of
Nanocovax vaccine Major
General, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyễn Viết Lương, of the Military Medical
Academy, Ministry of National Defence - the unit participating in the trial
of home-grown COVID vaccine Nanocovax, has given more details addressing
concerns about the vaccine’s immunogenicity in an interview with the Vietnam
News Agency. On August
29, after a meeting to consider the application for an emergency use licence
for Nanocovax by Nanogen Biopharmaceuticals, the Advisory Council for
Registration of Circulation of Drugs and Medicinal
Ingredients acknowledged the results submitted and appraised by the
Legal Subcommittee under the National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biologicals,
the Quality Subcommittee, and by the Pharmacology and Clinical
Subcommittee. It also asked the company to urgently supplement and update a
number of contents of the quality dossier: safety data on pharmacological and
clinical records; immunogenicity in response to new virus strains; and size
of samples for immunogenicity assessment according to the research plan; the
relationship between vaccine immunogenicity and protective efficacy of at
least 50 per cent according to World Health Organization guidelines. Lương
explained the four important tests to evaluate the immunogenicity of
Nanocovax. Lương said
that the immunogenicity (using quantitative testing of IgG antibodies to
COVID-19, which shows the level of antibodies generated after infection or
vaccination) of Nanocovax vaccine reached 57.56 U/ml. Lương said
that in order to compare the IgG antibody levels of vaccines, it must be done
using the same unit of measurement (WHO standard unit is BAU/ml). Even to
ensure the accuracy of comparison, vaccines must use the same test kit, while
here the studies use different types of kits with different units of
measurement. “To evaluate
the immunogenicity of the vaccine must be based on many other criteria, not
only on the concentration of IgG antibodies,” Lương said. In the
Nanocovax vaccine research, the units used four tests, including a
quantitative antibody test; assessment of neutralisation antibody (surrogate
neutralisation antibody); assessment of neutralising antibodies on live
viruses by PRNT (plaque reduction neutralisation test); and assessment of
cell-mediated immunity. Lương said
that in order to standardise the data to determine the immunogenic effect of
the Nanocovax vaccine, researchers could use a comparison method with the
sera of people having recovered from COVID-19. In this
study, the results showed that the IgG antibody efficacy of all the serum
samples studied in recovered COVID-19 patients was 5.63 U/ml on average.
Meanwhile, the IgG of volunteers vaccinated with Nanocovax vaccine (with a
dose of 25 mg) reached 6.77 U/ml on day 35, 60.47 U/ml on day 42, and fell to 16.25 U/ml on
day 90. The
significantly reduced anti-S IgG antibody levels in the vaccinated
volunteers, 3.7 times compared to day 42 (from 60.47 U/ml to 16.25 U/ml) were
still 2.9 times higher than that in the group of recovered COVID-19 patients
(5.63 U/ml). Lương added
the published figures of the Moderna vaccine showed 5.19 times higher
antibody levels in the vaccinated group at the time of peaking (day 42 after
injection) compared to the group of recovered COVID-19 patients. The
comparable figure for Nanocovax vaccine was 10.74 times. As for
surrogate neutralisation, the results of the study on Nanocovax also showed
that the neutralisation rate of serum samples from recovered COVID-19
patients reached 5.68 per cent while that in volunteers injected with
Nanocovax vaccine (with a dose of 25 mg) on day 35 reached 58.39 per cent, 85.5
per cent on day 42, 72.68 per cent on day 90. Regarding
the decline in antibody levels after the peak, Lương explained normally the
half-life of IgG is about 25 days, which means that for all vaccines after
IgG antibody production is stimulated and peaks, the antibody levels will
gradually decrease. “That
doesn't mean the vaccine loses its ability to protect. Vaccination helps the
body to form specific B cells. This cell will continue to produce antibodies
when antigens or viruses enter. This also shows that it is necessary to
re-inject the vaccine against COVID-19 after a certain period of time,"
Lương. It had been
shown in research results published by Moderna regarding its emergency
licensed vaccine, Lương said. With Moderna vaccine antibody concentration
decreased 3.96 times on day 119 compared to day 43. By comparison, Nanocovax
had a similar reduction of 3.7 times (16.25 U/ml on day 90 versus 60.47 U/ml
on day 42). Yet the
antibody level on day 90 in the vaccinated group was still much higher than
that in the group of recovered COVID-19 patients (16.25 U/ml versus 5.63
U/ml). Regarding
the two cases of anaphylaxis during testing he said the two incidents among
13,627 volunteers are not a large proportion compared to the claims of many
other vaccines. Moreover, these were only grade 1 and grade 2 anaphylaxis,
who were promptly treated, have recovered and returned to a completely normal
state. These two
cases were also reported to relevant medical authorities according to
regulations. He said when
the vaccine candidate had not been officially approved by the licensing
council, the publication of data on research results must be agreed upon by
the manufacturer and the research and evaluation agencies. This regulation is
intended to protect the legitimate interests of manufacturers and agencies
participating in evaluation and research as well as to ensure commitments
regarding ethical issues in research. He was
concerned that false and unfounded information would not only confuse the
public but also directly affect volunteers as well as producers, units,
organisations and scientists participating in the research. Lương said
after reviewing the report on the results of the first two phases and phase
3a of the Nanocovax vaccine trial, the Ethics Council had made a conclusion
and transferred the file to the Advisory Council to consider emergency
licensing for the Nanocovax vaccine. “The
evaluations and comments of the National Ethics Council in Biomedical
Research are correct, fair and objective. Currently, the company and research
units have supplemented the required documents. It is hoped that the
Nanocovax vaccine will be granted an emergency licence by the Advisory
Council for Registration of Circulation of Drugs and Medicinal Ingredients in
the first half of September 2021 so Việt Nam will have an ‘important weapon’
in the war against the pandemic, contributing to protecting people's health
and soon returning life to a new normal," said Lương. Online learning platform provides digital skills for Vietnamese
workers A
free learning platform has been officially launched, at
www.congdanso.edu.vn, providing six basic digital skills to
learners, especially female migrant workers. The
platform was jointly developed by the General Department of
Vocational Training under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social
Affairs, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Vietnam
and Microsoft Vietnam. It is part
of a project to enhance access to digital skills training for young
workers in Vietnam in the 2020 - 2021 period, which is an extension of
Microsoft’s on-going Global Skills Initiative (GSI) that was launched last
year to address growing employment challenges resulting from the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic. In the pilot
period, the platform targets 3,000 migrant workers and vocational students in
Ho Chi Minh City, and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong
Nai, who have demand for developing digital skills amid the COVID-19
pandemic. Addressing
the launch ceremony, Park Mihyung, Chief of Mission IOM Vietnam, said she
hoped that this platform will be popularised among people, students, workers,
and disadvantaged groups in the society. Deputy
General Director of the General Department of Vocational Training Pham
Vu Quoc Binh said the platform will help equip thousands of Vietnamese
with necessary digital skills, which will help them ensure a more stable
future. According to
Microsoft Vietnam, by early 2021, its Global Skills Initiative helped
more than 30 million people in 249 countries and territories around the world
access digital skills, including over 60,000 people from Vietnam./. Vietnam video making contest winners honoured in RoK The
Vietnamese Association in the Republic of Korea on September 4 evening hosted
a ceremony to award winners of a video making contest themed Vietnam in My
Heart. The
organisers had received 18 entries that reflected the feelings of the
Vietnamese community in the RoK toward their homeland, history, culture and
people. Some sensational stories show Vietnamese expatriates’ solidarity and
support with their compatriots at home in their COVID-19 fight. The
organisers presented awards to first, second and third prize winners. ON this
occasion, the Vietnamese Association in the Republic of Korea launched a
fund-raising campaign to purchase medical equipment in support of the ongoing
COVID-19 fight at home. Top legislator’s working visit to Austria helps promote
bilateral relations: Ambassador National
Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s working visit to Austria to attend
the fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (WCSP5) will contribute
to comprehensively promoting bilateral relations between the two nations, a
Vietnamese diplomat has said. In an interview
granted to the Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent in Europe, Vietnamese
Ambassador to Austria Nguyen Trung Kien said since Vietnam and Austria
officially established diplomatic relations in 1972, the bilateral
relationship has witnessed fruitful development across fields, from politics,
economy, trade and investment, to education-training, science-technology and
culture. Top leaders
of the two countries had also paid visits to each other's country, and the
two sides conducted the political consultation at the deputy minister level
in 2019. Austria is
one of the five largest trade partners of Vietnam in the European Union (EU).
Trade value between the two countries in 2019 reached about 3.6 billion USD.
Since August 2020, when the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took
effect, two-way trade has remarkably grown and is expected to achieve even
more positive results when this agreement will be fully tapped in the near
future. Although it
is a multilateral activity within the framework of the the Inter-Parliamentary
Union (IPU), the Vietnamese top legislator’s visit is an important occasion
to promote Vietnam - Austria relations, Kien said. Within the
framework of the visit, the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation will have many
activities to promote Vietnam's cooperation with Austria in a wide range of
fields, including economy, trade, investment, and agriculture, he added. The visit
will also affirm Vietnam’s priority to expand cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) and the UN Commission on International Trade Law
(UNCITRAL) which are based in Vienna - the world's third largest centre for
multilateral diplomacy, the ambassador said. Hue’s
attendance at WCSP5 once again affirms Vietnam's commitment to actively and
responsibly participate in multilateral parliamentary diplomacy, and promote
the role and position of the country and its legislature at regional and
international parliamentary cooperation mechanisms. Hue and the
high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese NA left Hanoi on September 5
morning for WCSP5. They will also pay working visits to the European
Parliament and Belgium, and an official visit to Finland during their trip
from September 5-11. The visits
are being made at the invitations of IPU President Duarte Pacheco, President
of the Austrian National Council Wolfgang Sobotka, President of the European
Parliament David Sassoli and Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Anu
Vehvilainen./. Vietnam to host Australia in WC qualifier without key players Hosts
Vietnam will play visiting Australia in their second World Cup qualifier on
September 7 without key players, causing a headache for coach Park Hang-seo
to complete the lineup for the clash. Trong was
diagnosed with injury recurrence following a CT-MRI scan on September 4, and
the 24-year-old player is expected to stay off the pitch for at least three
weeks. Bui Tien
Dung, another midfielder, was earlier injured and is now awaiting recovery.
Doctors expect Dung will be able to complete his recovery and stay ready for
the game on time. Meanwhile,
Duy Manh will be sidelined in the coming match after being given a red card
in Vietnam's 1-3 loss to hosts Saudi Arabia two days ago. Que Ngoc Hai
are suffering from muscle strains and now receiving intensive care from
doctors. Without key
players in the lineup, coach Park is likely to call up reserve players such
as Viet Anh, Tan Tai, Thanh Binh and Van Thiet, but none of them have played
for the national squad. The injury
crisis has forced Park to seek players to fill the missing gaps, which may
affect the team’s performance but is considered a necessary step for young
players to prove themselves. Australian
players arrived in Hanoi on September 4 for second WC 2022 qualifier against
hosts Vietnam, The visiting players are in good form after their 3-0 win over
rivals China on September 2. Due to
COVID-19, Australia will play Vietnam behind closed doors at My Dinh national
stadium in Hanoi and this will put the visiting team at an advantage,
according to Australia’s coach Graham Arnold. UN Secretary-General, foreign leaders congratulate Vietnam on
National Day United
Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and leaders of other international
organisations and foreign countries have sent congratulations to Vietnamese
leaders on the country’s National Day (September 2). In a
congratulatory message to President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Guterres expressed his
hope that Vietnam will continue to support the UN’s role to build a more
peaceful and better world for all. Regarding
the COVID-19 fight, he said countries should put into place recovery policies
to build a more equitable, sustainable and resilient society. He also
called on the international community to step up efforts to cope with climate
change and realise sustainable development goals (SDGs). Belarusian
President Alexander Lukashenko, Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko, Chairwoman
of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly (upper house) Natalya
Kochanova and Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National
Assembly of Belarus (lower house) Vladimir Andreichenko sent letters of
congratulations to President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh
and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue. President
Phuc also received greetings from Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina,
Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, Namibian President
Hage Gottfried Geingob, Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega Saavedra and Vice
President Rosario Murillo, and Captains Regent of San Marino Gian Carlo
Venturini and Marco Nicolini. Director of
the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) Grigory Trubnikov and
Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) Qu Dongyu also cabled messages of congratulations to President
Phuc. PM Chinh
received congratulations from his counterparts of India, Narenda Modi;
Singapore, Lee Hsien Long; and Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis. On this
occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son received greetings from
his Belarusian and San Marino counterparts, Vladimir Makei and Luca
Beccari./. HCM City envisages post coronavirus ‘new normal’ scenarios Ho Chi Minh
City, the largest coronavirus hotspot in Vietnam, will develop scenarios of a
‘new normal’ status following the successful COVID-19 prevention model in its
districts No.7 and Cu Chi, according to a senior local official. The two
districts will carry out a pilot scheme on a ‘new normal’ status that will be
then replicated citywide as soon as the outbreak is kept in check, Nen said. To halt the
spread of the virus, District No.7 said it has thoroughly implemented social
distancing measures. In addition, it has also completed COVID-19 testing and
separated all F0 cases from its ‘green’ and ‘yellow’ zones as scheduled. As of
September 4, approximately 237,000 residents in the district, or 99.43% of
its total population, have been vaccinated against COVID-19. The local
administration has pooled all resources to support people heavily affected by
the outbreak to ensure none of them are left behind.
Secretary
Nen welcomed the local administration’s plan but said the district should
continue to go ahead with strict measures against COVID-19. “You must
not rest on your laurels, because your efforts will come to nothing if the
virus recurs,” he said. HCM City is
the largest coronavirus hotspot in Vietnam. It has so far recorded more than
245,000 new coronavirus infections, or half of the country’s total, since the
resurgence of the virus in late April. Millions of students attend virtual opening ceremonies of new
school year A special
online opening ceremony of the 2021-2022 new school year for students in
Hanoi was held in Trung Vuong Secondary School in Hoan Kiem district on
September 5 morning, and broadcast live on the Hanoi Radio and Television. After the
flag-raising ceremony, Director of the municipal Department of Education and
Training Tran The Cuong read a letter sent by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to
the education and training sector on the occasion of the 2021-2022 school
year. Chairman of
the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh beat a drum to kick off the new
school year. He said the
education and training sector of the capital city had striven to overcome
difficulties to implement the dual goals of pandemic prevention and control
and fulfilling the academic yearly target with the spirit of “temporarily
stopping going to school without stopping studying.” Anh said the
2021-2022 academic year came amid unpredictable risks from the pandemic and
the city would face more difficulties in the future, urging the whole city to
unite and join efforts to overcome challenges. Representing
more than 2.1 million students of Hanoi attending the online opening
ceremony, Nguyen My Hanh, a ninth grader of the Trung Vuong Secondary School
expressed her joy and deep gratitude to the municipal authorities and
relevant agencies for organising the meaningful opening ceremony. Every
student should consider online learning as an opportunity to experience and
develop information technology skills, improve self-study capacity, practice
self-discipline, perseverance and creativity, she said. On the occasion,
local students who won medals at International Olympiads in 2021, and
teachers with outstanding achievements in training these students were
presented with certificates of merit by the Chairman of the municipal
People’s Committee. Millions of
students across the country also attended an online opening ceremony for the
new academic year on the same day, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while million
of others went to ceremonies in person. The
2021-2022 school year takes place as the COVID-19 outbreak is ravaging a
large number of cities and provinces, dealing a heavy blow to business and
social affairs, including education. Many localities have closed schools due
to rising COVID-19 cases. Fifty
localities nationwide decided to hold the opening ceremony of the new school
year either physically or online for nearly 20 million students, while the
remaining localities have cancelled or delayed the opening date, giving
priority to pandemic prevention and ensuring student safety. Over 20
other provinces and cities, mainly in the central and southern regions, also
kicked off the new school year opening ceremonies online or via television.
Due to the worsening outbreak triggered by Delta variant of the coronavirus,
many schools are being used as quarantine facilities. After the ceremony,
most students had to study online. In Ho Chi
Minh City, the current biggest hotspot of COVID-19 in Vietnam, a simple
ceremony was held at Le Hong Phong School for the Gifted with participation
of 30 people and broadcast live./. Comprehensive digital transformation to improve business
efficiency The Ministry
of Planning and Investment has drawn up a programme on supporting
digital transformation in enterprises, cooperatives and household
businesses during the 2021-2025 period. It has also
sketched out a draft project, a draft proposal and a draft decision approving
the programme that aims to materialise policies and guidelines of the Party,
laws of the State and solutions of the Government in this regard. The
programme is expected to help accelerate digital transformation through
changes in awareness, mindset and strategies of enterprises, as well as
incentives towards digitalisation in business, administration and production
activities. Accordingly,
all of the production facilities would have their awareness and mindset of
digital transformation improved by 2025. Meanwhile, at least 500,000 of them
will receive assistance from the programme like training, consultancy and
access to digital packages. Among the
beneficiaries, at least 800 firms, 100 cooperatives and 4,000 household
businesses are set to become models in digital transformation, especially in
processing, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and certain production
spheres. A network of
experts will be set up, bringing together at least 500 organisations and
individuals that will provide consultancy in digital transformation, and
announce a database with at least 100 digital transformation solutions. The
programme targets enterprises, cooperatives and business households that seek
digital transformation to improve their production and business efficiency
and competitiveness. To meet the
set targets, the ministry will build documents and tools guiding digital
transformation, roll out activities and boost cooperation between relevant sides. The
programme will focus on developing and raising capacity of experts in digital
transformation according to global standards and trends, and connecting them
with the production facilities. It will
select production facilities that have capacity and commit to adopting
digital transformation, helping them put forth a roadmap for digital
transformation, and offering them up to a 50 percent reduction of consultancy
costs. The funding
for the programme will come from the State budget, both at central and local
levels, and contributions by organisations, individuals and businesses./. Clash of values in a pandemic HCMC has
entered a new phase in the battle against Covid-19, when social distancing
measures are tightened. In reality,
the fight against Covid-19 in HCMC shows that there are many issues to
grapple with, leaving impacts on socio-economic activities and contrasting
responses from stakeholders. Different values start to clash, making it
difficult for the community to surge ahead. Why is it
challenging to control Covid-19? The
large-scale damage inflicted by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is unprecedented, so
there is no formula for tackling it. The measures adopted have not been
tested before. Urgency and risks mean that policymakers cannot afford to make
mistakes, which may prove costly. Consequently, enforcement officers are
given more power, so that they can handle each case with flexibility. Enforcement
agencies have different purposes, habits, needs and concerns. Their
interpretation of anti-pandemic measures may vary, too. Moreover, within the
same agency, different officers may have different personality, backgrounds
and responses. This makes it difficult to mobilize resources and coordinate
managerial responses on a large scale. There will be disparities, which,
while somewhat acceptable under normal circumstances, may spell trouble for
efforts to combat the pandemic. The
challenges posed by Covid-19 may be ignited by different factors, but they
are interrelated and, therefore, socially complex. Tackling them requires
collaboration across agencies as focusing on a particular issue, as each
agency tends to do, may worsen other issues. Prioritizing these issues is not
a simple task since they all seem urgent. Are the
goals in conflict? Striking a
balance between different goals enabled Vietnam’s economy to fare well in
2020. However, in 2021, the Delta variant, which is riskier and more
infectious, has made this more challenging. Stringent rules have impeded
economic activities. While allowing workers to stay and work in factories to
maintain production, create jobs and put the pandemic under control among
enterprises, hefty implementation costs, limited resources and managerial
risks have discouraged firms from adopting this arrangement. Restricted
traffic flows across localities have adversely affected supply chains. In
other words, the goals of controlling the pandemic and fueling economic growth
are sometimes at odds. The people
are restricted from going out. This solution makes sense since it can stop
transmission chains and allow the authorities to categorize various
localities according to risks. However, HCMC should seek to provide its people
with necessities. Since what constitutes necessities may differ from
household to household, the people should still be allowed to go out to some
extent. It is not easy to distinguish essential from non-essential items and
excessive loosening of restrictions will make it difficult to control the
pandemic, but an extremely strict approach may ignite adverse reactions from
groups that have different interpretations of what necessities are. In this
case, controlling the pandemic is at odds with ensuring the community’s
access to necessities. Vaccination
is the only path that will quickly lead to herd immunity or, at least, reduce
the death rate. However, vaccination centers can turn into clusters.
Moreover, many people must go out, sometimes in the company of household
members, to get vaccinated. Managing the flow of people becomes trickier as a
result. Mass vaccination at firms is no simple task, either. Small and medium
enterprises do not have a sufficiently large workforce to invite healthcare
workers to conduct on-site vaccination. Meanwhile, the transmission risks of
fetching workers to vaccination centers are high. In this case, controlling
the pandemic is at odds with creating herd immunity. The path
ahead Covid-19 is
a thorny issue which cannot be tackled through discipline alone. A more
sophisticated approach that involves a fresh mindset and inter-agency
coordination will be crucial. Instead of
letting each agency focusing on its own tasks, the Government should add in
some general goals regarding fighting Covid and other essential needs. The
governance model should empower agencies to have a shared vision and common
goals, so that there will be better coordination and responses to unforeseen
situations will be more efficacious. The
multitude of goals to deal with is a pressing problem facing the authorities.
Goals should be prioritized with as much detail as possible according to
phases, locations and situations, so that the decisions made will be
judicious and least detrimental to the community. Covid-19 is
an unprecedented problem so coming up with quick fixes is not easy. Some
government officials have not effectively dealt with fundamental issues. A
problem that straddles across different groups of people and social
activities is difficult to manage via official documents and regulations
alone. It will be better to provide an analytical framework so that civil
servants can respond appropriately to each circumstance. From the
people’s perspective, the pandemic poses an adaptive challenge. The Government
and experts should encourage the people to identify the obstacles they must
overcome. Information should be accurate and problems clearly identified.
Awareness will make individuals more receptive to trade-offs so that the
fight against the pandemic can take priority. Ninh Thuan administration orders speedup of land handover to
upgrade highway The Ninh
Thuận Province People's Committee has called for completing land acquisition
and handover to contractors by the end of September for the upgrade
and widening of 10.18km of National Highway No 27 in the south-central
coastal province of Ninh Thuận. The work,
divided into three bidding packages and estimated to cost VNĐ216 billion
(US$9.5 million), began in May and is scheduled to finish within a year. Project
Management Board No. 8 of the Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam is
overseeing the construction. Sections
passing through Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm city and Ninh Sơn District will be
repaired and widened to 12m and four lanes from the current two. The Đá Bridge
on the highway will also get an upgrade. Nguyễn Huy
Hoàng, director of the Project Management Board No. 8, said delays in land
acquisition and relocation of technical infrastructure (such as telecom,
electricity and water infrastructure and drains) have affected
progress . Some 4,000m
of fibre-optic cables and water pipes, 70 electric poles and five substations
have not been relocated yet. Phan Tấn
Cảnh, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, warned the work
would be called off if the required lands are not handed over to the
contractors before October. The people’s
committee has instructed authorities in Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm and Ninh Sơn to
speed up land acquisition. The Ninh
Thuận Power Company, Ninh Thuận Water Supply Joint Stock Company, Southern
Network Infrastructure Centre, rural water supply and
sanitation centre, and Viettel have been urged to speed up the
relocation work. The province
Department of Transport has been told to monitor the acquisition and report
to the committee in case of difficulties for it to promptly resolve. The upgrade
is expected to improve road safety and connectivity, and foster the
development of both coastal and Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) provinces. The 290km
National Highway No. 27 connects Ninh Thuận with the Central Highlands
provinces of Lâm Đồng and Đắk Lắk, running up to the latter’s Buôn Ma Thuột
City. Trading of essential products expected to resume in District 7 District 7
in HCM City plans to allow trading of essential products and street
businesses with strict conditions from September 20. Those
involved in the business must get two full doses of COVID-19 vaccine and
operate in line with criteria set by local authorities, according to the
district. The
information was revealed at a meeting on Sunday between Secretary of HCM City
Party Committee Nguyễn Văn Nên and authorities of District 7 which, together
with Củ Chi District, announced to have kept the pandemic under control. He said the
committee had proposed the city’s COVID-19 Prevention and Control Steering
Committee to choose District 7 and Củ Chi District as a pilot to draw lessons
for the next steps across the whole city. Chairman of
the District 7 People’s Committee Hoàng Minh Tuấn Anh said the district set
up a centre studying socio-economic development models for the new normal
period in order to study economic recovery after the pandemic, gradually
resuming operation of each kind of business. As planned,
the district will prioritise the resumption of trading of essential
products and street businesses from September 20 to October 20. These
businesses will be initially allowed to operate between 6am-6pm, according to
Anh. The district
authorities proposed to consider reducing or exempting tax for businesses and
household businesses in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 and continue
support packages for workers to help them recover from difficulties caused by
the COVID-19 pandemic. Secretary of
HCM City Party Committee Nên stressed that the reopening must be carried out
carefully step by step amid the complicated development of the pandemic. He urged the
district to continue carrying out COVID-19 testing, treating COVID-19
patients, vaccinating local residents and ensuring social security for
people. 42,000 tonnes of rice delivered to COVID affected people More than
42,443 tonnes of rice from national reserves have been delivered to people
affected by COVID-19 in 24 cities and provinces across the country, according
to the General Department of State Reserves. The fourth
outbreak of COVID-19 that started in late April has seriously affected the
lives and employment of millions of people and workers across the country. According to
the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, more than 8.6 million
people in 24 cities and provinces are at risk of starvation due to COVID-19.
The ministry
therefore submitted a proposal to the Prime Minister in August to allocate
approximately 130,000 tonnes of rice from national reserves to these people
within a month Ho Chi Minh
City, the country’s largest coronavirus hotspot, should be provided with
71,100 tonnes of rice to support 1.58 million households in need of aid
relief. Hanoi: How do people move through three epidemic prevention and
control zones? From 7 a.m.
on September 4, the Hanoi Police and functional forces deployed 39 more
checkpoints at the exit and entry routes of Zone 1 (red zone), with the task
of strictly controlling all people and vehicles that can enter and exit Zone
1. Accordingly,
the city's 21 checkpoints, chaired by the Hanoi Police in collaboration with
the Department of Transport, the Hanoi Capital High Command and the
Department of Health, are located in locations with high traffic density. The
checkpoint guards are on duty 24 hours per day, divided into four shifts per
day, and include 16 officers and soldiers. Of which, the Hanoi Police
deployed 10 officers and soldiers, two officers of the Department of
Transport, two officers from the Hanoi Capital High Command and two officers
from the Department of Health. Nine
checkpoints are being managed by the districts People's Committees located in
locations with medium traffic density, including district and district
police. The checkpoints are on duty 24 hours per day, divided into four
shifts per day, include five officers and soldiers of the district police,
one traffic inspector, one officer from the district military command, one
medical officer and one local government official. Nine
checkpoints are being managed by the People's Committees of communes, wards
and townships collaboration with the police of communes, wards and townships.
The checkpoints are on duty 24 hours per day, divided into four shifts per
day, including one commune, ward, township police officer or enhanced
district police officer, one self-administered officer, one medical officer;
and one local government official. As noted,
right from the early morning, at Cau Dien road in the area adjacent to the
two districts of Nam Tu Liem and Bac Tu Liem (Hanoi), two checkpoints for
vehicles in and out of the inner city of the Hanoi City Police has
implemented strict control of vehicles traveling between the zones. According to
Major Pham Van Chien, Captain of Traffic Police Team No. 6 (Hanoi Traffic
Police Department), in the first days, functional forces carried out
propaganda and handled those who went out for the wrong purpose, travel
approval documents without a licensed route, and those who did not wear a
mask complying with the distance regulations of the Hanoi People's Committee. From
September 6, implementing Directive No. 20 of the Hanoi People's Committee on
social distancing according to "red zones", "green
zones", for those who go out without travel approval documents according
to the new rules, the competent authority will impose fines according to
regulations. Rare grey-shanked douc langurs found at Hue resort Two rare
grey-shanked douc langurs have been found seeking food at a resort in the
central province of Thua Thien-Hue. Staff at a
resort in Loc Vinh Commune, Phu Loc District have recently found the two wild
animals hanging on some trees in the garden. According to
the staff, the two langurs were very bold and not scared of humans. They even
went into the kitchen to take fruit and food and sat at the table to eat in
front of them. After being
informed of the incident, Head of Phu Loc Forest Ranger Department, Le Van
Tuong, said that the two grey-shanked douc langurs might have come from Bac
Hai Van Protective Forest. "We are
planning to relocate them to Bach Ma National Forest to raise a new
colony," Tuong said. A
representative at the Bach Ma National Forest said that the langurs which
have scientific names as Pygathrix nemaeus, are listed in Vietnam's red book
as rare animals. Ninh Binh homestays up for sale due to pandemic Many
homestays in the northern province of Ninh Binh have been offered for sale as
the local tourism sector has been severely hit by Covid-19. It is easy
to see homestays for sale in Ninh Binh on real estate websites with the main
reason that owners need to pay off bank loans. Most of the
homestay facilities are situated near local famous tourist sites. Homestay
services strongly developed between 2016-2019 according to Ninh Binh’s
homestay owners. However, since the pandemic ravaged Vietnam, they have been
facing difficulties, forcing owners to sell. Nguyen Thi
Bac in Hoa Lu District said that her family borrowed nearly VND10 billion
(USD434,782) to build a 1,000-square-metre homestay. From 2017 to 2020, the
service’s business results were quite good. But since the pandemic occurred
in 2020, they have endured big losses. In April this year, Bac decided to
sell the homestay at VND8.5 billion to repay the banking loan. Le Van Trong
also from Hoa Lu District said that in December last year, he sold his
450-square metre homestay at VND15 billion (USD652,173). Lots of people
called him to ask for more information about the facility, but no one bought
it. He decided to lower the selling price to just VND12 billion but has still
failed to find a buyer for the homestay. He still has to repay high interest
bank loans every month. According to
the Ninh Binh Real Estate Association, the pressure for bank loans is the
major reason for the sell-off of homestays. Most of the interest in the
properties are real estate brokers. Ninh Hai
Commune ChairmanNguyen Van Hoat said that the locality is home to more than
100 homestay facilities with many having gone on sale over the past year.
However, since late 2020, only two have been bought. Covid-19 patients advised not to come into contact with domestic
animals The Ministry
of Health has warned Covid-19 patients not to come into contact with domestic
animals as there's evidence the Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) could be transmitted
from humans to animals. In recently
issued guidelines on treating Covid-19 patients at home, the ministry advised
patients and their family members not to come into contact with domestic
animals, nor let them come into contact with other people and animals outside
their families. According to
the ministry, reports from many other countries showed that animals could be
infected with Coronavirus after coming into contact with Covid-19 patients. Some animals
that are easy to be infected by the virus include dogs, cats, civets, and
some primates. The
guidelines also state that Covid-19 patients should be taken care of in a
separate area at home, use their own dining sets and keep a two-metre
distance from other family members. Vietnam
announced 12,607 more Covid-19 infections on Tuesday, raising the patient
tally to 462,096. The country now stands 59th among 222 countries and
territories worldwide in terms of the number of infections. Party chief’s two books introduced to public The Su That
(Truth) National Political Publishing House has introduced two books by Party
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, namely “The whole Party and people join
hands and unite to build a more prosperous and happier country” and “Unity,
confidence to lead the country to enter a new stage”. The books
comprise of 180 important speeches, articles, interviews and congratulatory
letters and messages by the Party leader from January 2018 to April 2021. The contents
are arranged under four themes of comprehensively promoting the Doi Moi
(Renewal) along the socialist orientation; considering Party building and
rectification a key task; improving the effectiveness and operational
efficiency of the political system and bringing into play the strength of the
great national unity; and taking the initiative in international integration
and cooperation. Regarding
the comprehensive promotion of the Doi Moi along the socialist orientation,
Trong emphasized the need to study, supplement and perfect mechanisms and
policies in accordance with the actual situation of the country, each
locality, ministry, sector and field on the basis of the Party’s stances,
guidelines and policies on socio-economic development. As for Party
building and rectification, the Party chief pointed out in many speeches and
articles that the work has always received special attention. He noted that
Party building aims to make the Party always transparent and strong, while
Party rectification is to overcome shortcomings and weaknesses to make the
Party worthy of being the sole force leading the country. Regarding
the improvement of the effectiveness and operational efficiency of the
political system and the promotion of the strength of the great national
unity, Trong’s articles, speeches and congratulatory letters have reflected
his deep, regular and continuous care about all sectors, agencies, and
organisations in the political and social systems from the central to local
and grassroots levels. On the
active international integration and cooperation, his messages and speeches
at regional and international meetings, along with congratulatory letters and
messages sent to Party and State leaders of countries which Vietnam has
diplomatic relations with, have demonstrated the Party and State's policy on
proactive and active integration and extensive international cooperation./. Pregnant health workers exempt from jobs at COVID-19 treatment
areas People who
are pregnant, have children under-12-months-old, have underlying health
conditions, or are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be assigned
jobs that relate to coronavirus, according to a guideline the Ministry of
Health. Accordingly,
the ministry has asked medical facilities to develop and implement preventive
measures tailored for specific areas and groups of medical workers. The
facilities must actively assess infection risks to early detect and manage
SARS-CoV-2 positive health-workers. The risk
assessment for medical workers must be conducted daily after their shift,
especially for those working in quarantine areas, examination and treatment
areas and SARS-Cov-2 screening areas. Those
assessed as in a high-risk group must stop working, and stop contact with
patients and other health workers immediately. They will be tested for
SARS-CoV-2 and take health quarantine under current regulations. Health
workers are required to strictly follow the 5K rules: Khẩu trang (facemask) –
Khử khuẩn (disinfection) – Khoảng cách (distancing) – Không tụ tập (no
gathering) – Khai báo y tế (health declaration), and other disease and
control measures. Health
workers who directly treat or take care of COVID-19 patients or those
suspected of having SARs-CoV-2 must be trained and master anti-infection
skills. Medical
facilities have been asked to maintain suitable working schedules based on
health workers’ health conditions. According to
the Ministry of Health, preliminary reports in many countries show that
health worker infections account for about 10 per cent of total COVID-19
infections. As the
COVID-19 pandemic is developing with highly infectious variants, the number
of people hospitalised for COVID-19 infections continues to increase, causing
overload in health facilities and posing a higher risk of health workers
being exposed to the virus. Phạm Thanh
Bình, chairwoman of the National Union of Health Workers, said that until the
middle of August 2021, nearly 2,400 medical workers in Việt Nam had been
infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic hit the country, and three
had died. Besides the
risk of COVID exposure, medical workers suffer high mental pressure when
seeing the increased number of patients whose health conditions tend to
worsen quickly and the increased number of fatalities, Bình said. “Many of
them can’t help crying and being stressed when they feel they have failed to
save patients,” she said. Source:
VNA/VNS/VOV/VIR/SGT/SGGP/Nhan Dan/Hanoitimes |
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