Thirty-three Vietnamese people who entered Vietnam illegally from China were arrested on Thursday in Quang Ninh Province.

More than 30 Vietnamese citizens have been apprehended by border guards trying to illegally enter the Việt Nam from China.

They were discovered on Thursday by guards patrolling trails in the northern province of Quảng Ninh.

The group of 33 people were from Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa, Hà Giang, Đắc Lắc, Lai Châu, Lào Cai, Tuyên Quang, Thái Nguyên, Bắc Kạn and Bắc Giang provinces.

Back in February they had illegal entered China to seek employment.

They have all been given medical checks and put into quarantine in Móng Cái City.

Since the implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control, Bắc Sơn border guards in Móng Cái City have detected more than 330 Chinese and Vietnamese citizens crossing the border illegally. 

Vietnam willing to share anti-coronavirus experience with South Africa

Vietnam is willing to share its experience in preventing and combating the COVID-19 pandemic with South Africa via online conferences as it has done with medical military forces of some countries recently, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, told his South African counterpart Thabang Makwetla.

During his phone talks with the South African Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans on July 9, Vinh stressed the importance of international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

He briefed on Vietnam’s efforts in containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, noting that thanks to the involvement of the whole political system, with the army playing a core role, Vietnam has successfully controlled the epidemic.

The Vietnamese official also shared COVID-19 prevention results of Vietnam’s UN peacekeeping forces in the UN Peacekeeping Missions in Africa, especially efforts and active response made by members of the 2nd level-2 field hospital in South Sudan.

For his part, Thabang Makwetla praised Vietnam’s success in the fight against COVID-19, expressing the hope that Vietnam will support his country to soon repel the disease.

The two sides reviewed the bilateral defence cooperation and discussed orientations for stronger ties in the coming time.

They noted with pleasure that the cooperation has been on track since the visit of the South African Minister of Defence and Military Veterans to Vietnam in August last year, in line with the agreement on defence cooperation signed in 2006.

They demonstrated a determination to further enhance collaboration in the fields of training, cyber security, UN peacekeeping operation, military medicine and defence industry.

Particularly, the two sides also agreed to expand military medicine cooperation as part of efforts to respond to non-traditional security challenges, stressing that it is necessary to focus on this work in the time to come.

The two sides will continue to maintain the Defence Policy Dialogue mechanism as a foundation to share views on issues of common concern, while taking measures to strengthen their defence ties.

The Vietnamese official also informed his counterpart about Vietnam’s plans to organise activities during the year it acts as ASEAN Chair 2020 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021.

He took the occasion to invite leaders of the South African Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans to attend a programme for guests hosted by the Chair of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM ).

Thabang highly valued Vietnam’s position and role in the international arena and the region, affirming that his country will back Vietnam’s initiatives, thus contributing to regional and global peace, stability and development.

Medical masks from Vietnamese NA presented to IPU Secretariat

Vietnamese Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai on July 9 met with Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Martin Chungong and handed over medical masks which are a gift from the country’s National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan for the IPU Secretariat.

During the meeting at the IPU headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland), Ambassador Mai, who is head of Vietnam’s permanent mission to the UN, the World Trade Organisation and other international organisations there, affirmed that the Vietnamese NA attaches importance to the IPU’s role and activities in promoting parliamentary diplomacy.

It also highly values the Secretary General’s contributions to the IPU, especially the IPU Secretariat’s activities to support the implementation of the union’s strategies and programmes and enhance the IPU-UN cooperation and partnership, thereby helping to promoting parliaments and parliamentarians’ role and voice in international affairs, she said.

She noted that despite COVID-19-induced difficulties, Vietnam has still been making efforts to fulfil its role as Chair of ASEAN and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).

Mai also conveyed NA Chairwoman Ngan’s invitation to Secretary General Chungong to attend the online conference on AIPA parliamentary partnership for cultural and educational cooperation for sustainable development, which will be held by the Vietnamese NA on July 30.

The diplomat expressed her honour to, on behalf of the Vietnamese NA leader, present Vietnamese-made medical face masks to the IPU Secretary General and Secretariat to assist anti-COVID-19 efforts, saying the small gift represents the Vietnamese NA’s solidarity and cooperation with the IPU Secretariat.

At the meeting, Chungong spoke highly of connections between the IPU and the Vietnamese NA while applauding enormous achievements that the Vietnamese parliament has obtained not only in the country, but also in contributing to regional and international parliamentary diplomacy.

He said he is impressed with Vietnam’s development in different aspects over the past years, including the successful organisation of the 132nd IPU Assembly in 2015 and the realisation of commitments in the union’s 2015 Hanoi Declaration.

Appreciating the gift from the Vietnamese parliament, he also confirmed his participation in the coming conference hosted by the NA.

Ambassador Mai affirmed that it is an honour for her and Vietnam’s permanent mission in Geneva to serve as a bridge promoting cooperation between the Vietnamese NA and the IPU. They will keep working closely with the IPU Secretariat to step up cooperation activities between the union and the Vietnamese parliament.

Hanoi presents two tonnes of face masks to New York city

The Vietnamese Embassy in the US and the Vietnam Permanent Mission to the UN on July 9 handed over two tonnes of medical and anti-bacterial cloth face masks as the gift of the Hanoi authority to New York city to help local people fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the hand-over ceremony, New York city's Commissioner for International Affairs Penny Abeywardena conveyed her sincere thanks of the New York administration and people to their Hanoi counterparts for the donation.

She said this is a very practical help in the context that New York city is still struggling to cope with the pandemic.

Head of the Vietnam Permanent Mission to the UN Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy said he expects the gift will contribute to helping people in New York city overcome difficulties caused by the disease.

He also expressed his hope that New York and Hanoi will have more opportunities to enhance ties in the future, especially cooperation between the two sides’ businesses in order to promote socio-economic development and overcome consequences of the health crisis.

New York city has so far reported over 220,000 COVID-19 cases, including 22,000 fatalities. Social distancing measures and regulations on wearing face masks in public places are still applied in the city.

Vietnam free of community transmission of COVID-19 for 85 days

Eighty-five days have passed since the last local infection of coronavirus was recorded in Vietnam, the national steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control said on July 10 morning.

Some Vietnamese citizens prepare to leave a quarantine site in Quang Nam province (Photo: VNA)

There were also no new cases to report overnight, keeping the number of infections in the country at 369.

Of the total, 229 are imported cases who were quarantined upon their arrival.

Up to 347 patients or 94 percent have recovered from the disease, and there are no deaths.

Most of the 22 remaining cases are in stable condition, and five of them have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, at least twice.

At present, 12,923 people having close contact with confirmed cases or coming from pandemic-hit areas are in quarantine, including 72 in hospitals, 12,447 in other quarantine sites, and 404 at home or accommodation facilities.

346 Vietnamese citizens brought from US amid COVID-19 pandemic

A total of 346 Vietnamese citizens were brought home safe and sound from the US on July 9.

The flight was arranged by domestic agencies, the Vietnamese Embassy in the US, the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, and US agencies.

Passengers were mostly children, pregnant women, students who face difficulties in accommodation and visa extension, and some businessmen and intellectuals.

To help citizens do necessary procedures, the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington DC sent officials to Dulles airport.

Preventive measures were taken seriously during the flight. After landing at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, crew members and passengers had their body temperature checked and went under quarantine as regulated.

Under the Prime Minister’s instruction, Vietnamese authorities and representative offices abroad will continue conducting more flights to bring Vietnamese citizens home in the coming time, based on the citizens’ aspirations and quarantine capacity in localities.