The Vietnam – Russia defence relations and military-technical cooperation have always been supported and facilitated by leaders of the two countries to be expanded and deepened across fields, stated Defence Minister Gen. Phan Van Giang on September 4.

He made the statement while receiving Russian Deputy Minister of Defence Aleksei Iurievich, who is in Vietnam to attend the closing ceremony of the International Army Games 2021’s “Sniper Frontier” and “Emergency Area” competitions hosted by Vietnam.

Highlighting the countries’ traditional friendship, Giang affirmed Vietnam always values the development of its comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia as a priority in its policy for external relations.

Since the pandemic broke out, the defence ministries of Vietnam and Russia have assisted each other in prevention and control work in their respective nation, he noted.

Appreciating Russia’s donation of its Sputnik V vaccine for Vietnam in the past time and its commitment to further offering 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this year, the minister hoped more vaccine support will come particularly amid the current complicated developments of the epidemic in Vietnam.

Considering the International Army Games an important multilateral activity attracting the participation of many nations, including Vietnam, Giang said the Vietnamese teams have so far earned encouraging results and had a chance to exchange experience in military training and weapon use.

For his part, Aleksei Yurievich congratulated Vietnam in successfully hosting the two competitions and expressed his wish for Vietnam’s further support for the Army Games next year.

Vietnam, Russia step up educational cooperation

A meeting took place virtually between Vietnam and leaders of Kuzbass, an educational organisation from Russia’s Kemerovo Region on September 3 on the sidelines of the 6th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

Reports on cooperation between academic establishments of the sides were presented at the event.

Also on the occasion, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology’s Institute for Tropical Technology signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration with the Kuzbass State Technical University.

The 6th EEF was held in both face-to-face and online formats under the theme of “The Opportunities for the Far East in a World under Transformation” on September 2 – 4. It featured about 70 activities in its agenda in addition to many cultural, sport, and youth exchange programmes.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency's correspondents in Russia on the sidelines of the event, Evgeni Vlasov, Deputy Vice-President for International Relations at Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), said information technology, biopharmaceuticals and medicine in general, protecting people, and improving the quality of life will be the future of cooperation between Vietnam and Russia.

According to Grigory Trofimchuk, Chairman of the Council of Experts of the Eurasian Research Fund, Vietnam has for years put forth initiatives and suggestions in contribution to the forum's common activities in order to facilitate the development of the region./.

Danang’s markets, eateries in safe areas can resume operations from tomorrow

Traditional markets, stores and eateries in Covid-19-free areas in Danang City are allowed to reopen starting tomorrow, September 5, according to the city’s anti-Covid authority.

After a 20-day lockdown, the city’s anti-Covid steering committee last night issued new anti-Covid measures, which will come into force from 8 a.m. tomorrow.

In Covid-free areas, also known as “green zones” which have reported no new cases for 14 days in a row, people are permitted to visit local markets five times a week and only one person from each household can go to the market with a QR code slip.

Restaurants and eateries can take orders online and offer delivery services. They are required to offer only takeaway services and make sure customers follow social distancing measures.

People in green zones can also join outdoor sports activities in public places from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

As for “yellow zones”, the authorities continued to ban residents from getting out of their houses. People are allowed to go out to join a number of activities with specific requirements. They must have a mobility permit with a QR code and an identification card, strictly follow anti-virus requirements and wear a face shield when they participate in the activities.

People can visit grocery stores and pharmacies around their places of residence.

Supermarkets and wholesale stores can only offer their services to organizations and individuals that are authorized to shop and deliver goods to local residents.

Providers of gas, electricity, water, fuel, post, telecoms, newspaper and magazine services, airports and railway stations have to make arrangements for a maximum of 30% of their employees to be on duty.

Banks, seaport operators, hi-tech parks and industrial zones must allow a maximum of 40%-50% of their employees to work in their facilities.

Besides this, delivery workers are required to wear protective clothes and get at least one shot of Covid vaccine.

Meanwhile, people in extremely-high risk areas, or “red zones”, have to continue to follow strict mobility restrictions as regulated earlier.

Vietnamese tourism attractions and culture highlighted in Korean series

The ASEAN-Korea Center in Seoul has launched a series of videos that introduce tourist sites and cultural resources of four ASEAN member states, including Brunei, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

The purpose of the release is to help South Korean people discover the charms and cultural beauty of the region amid ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The virtual tour features plenty about Vietnamese food culture, from popular local dishes such as pho bo (beef noodle soup), banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) and banh xeo (Vietnamese sizzling pancake), to Hue royal cuisine which is considered the pinnacle of Vietnamese gastronomy.

The Vietnamese episode will also introduce renowned UNESCO heritage sites such as Hoi An ancient town, Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, as well as popular tourism hotspots, including Phu Quoc Island, Nha Trang, and Dong Van Karst Plateau.

The series is available for viewers on the ASEAN-Korea Center's YouTube channel.

The Republic of Korea represented the second largest Vietnamese tourism market with a record high number of 4.3 million in 2019.

77,000 students in HCM City still lack either internet access or electronic devices 

Of more than 1.3 million students from the primary to high school level in HCM City, 77,000 lack either access to the internet or electronic devices to study online, according to school surveys requested by the city Department of Education and Training.

Of nearly 650,000 primary school students, more than 55,000 lack the necessary equipment and a stable internet connection. Some are temporarily staying in the countryside and cannot return to the city.

At secondary and high school levels, which have nearly 700,000 students, as many as 17,000 do not have internet access and the necessary equipment, while 5,000 have the equipment but have no internet.

Authorities are seeking solutions to support students in need for the upcoming semester. Schools are calling on HCM City locals to donate old computers, phones or money to buy new devices for students from poor families.

Students living in the countryside without either the necessary equipment or the internet will be able to study online with support from the locality.

For students who have the equipment but lack internet access in COVID isolation areas, schools will work with localities to give them the necessary physical documents.     

Leaders of the city Department of Education and Training said that a network of volunteers will help deliver study materials to students who cannot pursue online learning. 

The department is also working with a television station to produce educational content, mostly at the primary school level. It will begin broadcasting in mid-September. The channel will provide students and parents with the support they need for learning.

Middle and high school students in HCM City will begin online classes on September 8, while primary school students will start on September 20. 

Vinh Long to ease mobility restrictions as Covid put under control
 
Vinh Long Province is set to relax mobility restrictions starting tomorrow, September 5 and switch to practicing less strict social distancing measures under the prime minister’s Directive 15 to create favorable conditions to restore manufacturing and business activities.

The province will take measures to ensure the adequate implementation of social welfare policies for residents on par with the current Covid-19 situation. Further, it will make efforts to bring the pandemic under control and shift to a new normal before September 15, a local official was quoted by Thanh Nien newspaper.

According to the provincial anti-Covid authority, the situation in the province has been steadily brought under control. During the past 14 days, daily new coronavirus cases have fallen, at 23 on average in 51 of 107 communes and wards.

Between July 9 and September 3, the province had reported 2,082 cases, with 1,788 of having recovered and 37 reported dead.

As of September 3, 717 of the province’s 752 hamlets had not reported any fresh locally-infected cases for over 14 days. Moreover, 85 out of 107 communes and wards reported no new domestic cases over the past two weeks, according to the provincial Department of Health.

The Mekong Delta province also recognized that 66 of the 107 communes and wards have returned to the new normal or can be viewed as safe areas.

The province administered Covid vaccines to over 227,000 people, with over 34,500 of them fully vaccinated.

Embassy assists vaccination campaign for Vietnamese expats in Malaysia

The Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia in collaboration with the Vietnamese women’s union and competent Malaysian agencies organised vaccinations for 200 Vietnamese expats on September 4.

People vaccinated were Vietnamese workers and their families, all aged above 18.

Thu Hoa from Penang said the vaccination benefited 21 Vietnamese workers from the Malaysian state, adding that she is moved by the assistance she has received.

She said she feels more secured after getting her shot on the day and hoped more Vietnamese in Malaysia will be vaccinated.

Vietnamese Chargé d’Affaires Nguyen Hong Son informed that the embassy will further cooperate with competent agencies and Vietnamese communities so that more Vietnamese, including students and interns, will be inoculated.

Mobile vaccination campaigns will take place to support people in remote areas, he added.

Earlier, in mid-August, more than 500 Vietnamese in Malaysia were vaccinated./.

Recovered Covid-19 patients volunteer to help in hospitals

Lately, touching stories about volunteers who have recovered from the coronavirus agreed to stay on at stretched hospitals to help health care workers struggling to cope with an influx of infected people have spread quickly.

In his protective suit, young man Huynh Khang carefully fed an elderly woman in her bed in a hospital encouraging her to have this bowl of porridge so that she can get well soon and go home. Despite her breathing problem, the old woman smiled and had every spoonful of Khang's porridge.

Having caught Covid-19 after participating in volunteer work at a laboratory in Ho Chi Minh City, student Khang of the Vietnam Youth Academy was taken to the hospital for treatment. After recovering from illness, Khang began to think about working in infirmaries as a volunteer to help other patients and wrote an application to serve in field hospitals.

Khang officially accepted a job at the multi-story Covid-19 treatment field hospital in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District, helping take care of elderly and serious patients who could not live on their own. He shared that up to now, he feels volunteering is worthwhile despite fatigue and homesickness as he considered this work as a thank you for the silent sacrifices by the doctors and nurses who have treated him.

Being a former Covid-19 patient, 33-year-old Nguyen Hong Ky in Tan Binh District decided to return to the field hospital No.4 to treat Covid-19, where he used to stay for treatment of Covid-19 to help medical workers here.

Every morning, after putting on a protective suit, the man arrives at the emergency room to brush patients’ teeth or feed patients. He also changes diapers, washes hair, cuts nails for the patients. Currently, he is taking care of 10 severe patients being treated in the emergency room.

He said his mother had passed away, so he missed her when looking at elderly patients in the emergency room. Accordingly, he always takes care of them well with the hope that they can return to their families soon.

Talking about volunteers who used to be Covid-19 patients, Dr. Kieu Quoc Thanh, Head of the Emergency Resuscitation Area of the field hospital to treat Covid-19 No. 4 said, medical staff have been overloaded with work as more patients have been admitted to the hospital every day; subsequently, volunteers can help take better care of seriously ill and elderly patients so that health care workers have more time to focus on treating many other patients.

Dr. Nguyen Tran Nam, deputy director of the field hospital to treat Covid-19 No. 4, said that in the past time, this infirmary has received a lot of support from former Covid-19 patients.

Some people who have been discharged from the hospital and asymptomatic and completely healthy patients have volunteered to care for other serious patients. Besides, because they used to be infected people, they can sympathize with and easily support serious patient's activities, giving both psychological and medical support.

Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Hoai Nam shared that the immune systems of people who recovered from Covid-19 had durable memories of the virus up to eight months after infection; therefore, former Covid-19 recoveries are a very valuable source of labor in infirmaries.

According to him, recovered people can do cleaning and spray disinfectant in each room as well as assist nurses in the treatment area so that medical staff can focus on treating patients.

Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son yesterday sent a letter to patients who have recovered from Covid-19 calling on them to join hands in the fight against the pandemic in Ho Chi Minh City.

Mr. Son said in his letter that if former patients feel adequately healthy and wish to join hands in the fight against Covid-19, they can register to participate in the battle at the city Department of Health’s personnel division at 028.39309967 or 0907.574.269.

Medical workers will assess recovered patients’ level of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus through rapid tests and arrange the best possible working conditions for these special patients.

Prime Minister pays working trip to Thai Nguyen

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh paid a working trip to the northern province of Thai Nguyen on September 3.

After offering incense to President Ho Chi Minh at a memorial dedicated to him at Dinh Hoa safety zone on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of August Revolution and National Day (September 2), he visited the Republic of Korea (RoK)'s Samsung Electronics Vietnam Thai Nguyen Co. Ltd.

At a working session there, Chinh said Vietnam is stepping up vaccine strategy, including importing, facilitating technological transfer and producing vaccines at home as well as speeding up vaccinations for all people, including workers at Samsung.  

He suggested with its prestige, Samsung raise a voice to the RoK Government and partners to help Vietnam receive, buy and borrow vaccines.

The PM also wished the firm to increase the rate of domestically-made items and export value in the near future. He proposed Samsung enhance the transfer of technology and management capacity to Vietnam, as well as create favourable conditions for Vietnamese to be among senior leaders in its factories in Vietnam.

The leader pledged to always listen to aspirations of enterprises, including foreign-invested ones and Samsung in particular. He wished they would work closely with authorities at all levels to do more successful business in the country.

CEO of Samsung Vietnam Choi Joo-ho said Samsung now has six factories in Vietnam with an investment capital of 17.7 billion USD and 38,000 workers. It is building a research and development centre in Hanoi, which is expected to be operational in late 2022 and draw 3,000 engineers.
 
At Dinh Hoa secondary school for ethnic minorities, PM Chinh held a working session with nearly 190 locations in the province via videoconference.

He said his visit aims to inspect preparations for the new academic year 2021-2022 as well as business operations amid the pandemic. He hailed the province for effectively working toward the dual goals of fighting the pandemic and restoring socio-economic development, especially staying ready for the new school year.

The top Government leader asked the Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Finance, and units concerned to pay more attention to ethnic boarding schools via issuing policies for remote, border and island areas to ensure fairness in education.

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Nguyen Thanh Hai said in the first half of this year, the province’s gross regional domestic product grew by 6.5 percent. With 18.66 billion USD from exports during the period, Thai Nguyen was among five provinces nationwide with the highest currency revenue.

Its total State budget collection surpassed 10.2 trillion VND, up 15.7 percent year-on-year, or 65.4 percent of the estimate.

Notably, Thai Nguyen provided all level-4 administrative procedures on its public service portal. It was also among 10 provinces nationwide to pass through 14 days without new COVID-19 cases./.

HCMC launches free healthcare consultancy for city dwellers

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications collaborated with the Municipal Department of Health and the HCMC Medical Association yesterday launched the healthcare consultancy channel for residents following medical specialty via information portal No.1022 to support and take care of city dwellers suffering from cardiovascular, endocrine and respiratory diseases.

The portal will receive calls related to healthcare all week-days at stable timelines from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

All the calls to information portal No.1022 in the city will be free of charge.

Currently, the healthcare consultancy channel has nine fields, medical specialties.

All residents in provinces practicing social distancing to be tested

The Ministry of Health has asked provinces practicing social distancing under the prime minister’s Directive 16 to conduct Covid-19 tests for all residents at their homes by September 15.

According to the ministry, the pandemic has yet to be brought under control in provinces where Directive 16 is being deployed and the level of community transmission is still high, the local media reported.

To detect Covid-19 cases early and reduce the transmission risk, the Ministry of Health asked localities practicing social distancing to accelerate testing, especially in areas under lockdown and extremely-high-risk and high-risk areas.

The testing results must be worked out in the course of the day.

By September 15, medical workers must visit households in extremely high-risk and high-risk areas to take their samples for Covid-19 testing, at least three times, using rapid antigen tests or RT-PCR tests for groups of households.

In other areas, all residents will be swabbed at home every five to seven days. They will undergo RT-PCR tests in groups of households.

Moreover, localities will continue testing people with symptoms of cough, fever and shortness of breath.

Employees of hospitals, production and business units, industrial parks and essential service providers will be tested every three days.

The Ministry of Health also asked cities and provinces to instruct residents to do a self-test under the supervision of medical workers.

As for localities which are not practicing social distancing, the local healthcare sectors must conduct tests depending on the pandemic situation there to detect infections early.

Family members of those working at enterprises providing essential services, banks, traditional wet markets, supermarkets and trade centers as well as those living in boarding houses and areas with a high population density will also be tested.

Meanwhile, staff in hospitals, production and business entities, industrial parks and essential service providers will be tested every five to seven days.

HCM City sees more COVID cases among children

The number of children under 16 years old contracting COVID-19 in HCM City has risen, partly because of an increase in tests being conducted in the community, according to the HCM City Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention.

As many as 2,915 children under 16 are being treated for COVID-19 at hospitals or at home. The total number of COVID-19 patients being treated in the city is 41,470.  

Field Hospitals No. 4 and 11 and Củ Chi Field Hospital are treating children who cannot stay at home. If the cases become severe, the patients are brought to the City Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospitals No. 1 and 2.  

Many of them have underlying health conditions such as obesity, leading to difficulties in treatment. Most of them, however, have recovered.

On August 15, a 15-year-old male COVID-19 patient from District 8, for example, had acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening lung injury that allows fluid to leak into the lungs. 

The patient, who weighed 135 kilogrammes, was prescribed high-flow nasal cannula therapy that delivers oxygen. Broad-spectrum antibiotics and other medicines were also used for treatment. After two weeks of treatment, the patient no longer needed nasal cannula therapy and is now recovering.

A 15-year-old girl with severe COVID-19 and obesity also recovered after four weeks of treatment at the hospital.

Dr Trương Hữu Khanh, former head of the infectious and nervous diseases department at Children’s Hospital No.1, said: “More and more children are contracting COVID-19 in the city. However, most cases are mild and they recover rapidly. Only children who are overweight or obese can become worse when contracting COVID-19.”

Children’s Hospital No.1 said that it also has admitted severe COVID-19 cases at various ages. A 21-day-old infant, for example, was hospitalised due to a fever and a SpO2 oxygen saturation level of 88 per cent. After being treated for COVID-19, the child is now recovering.

Infants who contract COVID-19 should be closely supervised so that severe symptoms can be detected and treated in time. Doctors said that parents should take their children to health facilities for screening and testing if they have a fever, cough or other symptoms.

Vietnam’s National Day marked in Ukraine

The Vietnamese Embassy in Ukraine held a ceremony in Kyiv on September 2 marking the 76th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day.

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine Nguyen Hong Thach expressed his delight at achievements made by Ukraine and appreciated further promoting bilateral comprehensive ties.

According to him, two-way trade rose by roughly 10 percent in the first half. Vietnam was among five Asian partners of the European country. The two nations successfully held the 15th meeting of the Vietnam – Ukraine Inter-Governmental Committee on Economic, Trade, Scientific-Technological Cooperation in January 2021.

He expressed his belief that with determination of the two countries, bilateral ties will be further expanded with new achievements in the near future.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik, for his part, said Ukraine is ready to be a partner of Vietnam in Europe and wished that Vietnam would assist the country in moving closer to ASEAN member states.

On the occasion, he also conveyed the congratulatory letter of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to the ambassador.

Participants at the event were treated with traditional music performances and cuisine of Vietnam./.

All new Covid-19 cases in HCMC found in community

From August 29 to September 3, all Covid-19 cases in HCMC were community-transmitted ones, according to the HCMC Department of Health.

During the period, the city intensified anti-pandemic measures and conducted a mass Covid-19 testing drive to quickly isolate Covid-19 cases from the community.

On September 3 alone, the city detected 8,480 Covid-19 cases, accounting for nearly 4.7% of the total 180,944 samples collected for testing, rising 2.7 percentage points over the rate on September 1, Tuoi Tre Online newspaper reported.

Of the total new cases found on September 3, Binh Tan made up the most, at 777 cases, followed by District 1 with 736 cases, Tan Binh with 696 cases, District 12 with 669 cases and Binh Chanh with 583 cases.

The spike of new cases on September 3 was the highest during the 12 days HCMC has been applying strict anti-virus measures and also the highest so far.

Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Hoai Nam said Thu Duc City and districts in HCMC were conducting the second stage of the mass testing drive.

According to the HCMC Center for Disease Control, the city will continue conducting quick tests for all residents in extremely high-risk and high-risk areas, while those in areas with a low risk of pandemic transmission and coronavirus-free areas will undergo RT-PCR tests in groups of five and 10 people, respectively.

In the current fourth Covid-19 wave, HCMC has reported 241,084 Covid-19 cases.

Local cake among world’s top 100 delicious cakes

Tasteatlas, a renowned website for foodies globally, has named Vietnam’s Steamed Tapioca Layer Cake (or Bánh da lợn in Vietnamese) among its top 100 Most Popular Cakes in the world.

Foreign leaders congratulate Vietnam on 76th National Day

Top leaders of many countries have sent messages and letters of congratulations to the Party and State leaders of Vietnam on the country's 76th National Day (September 2).

Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, in his congratulatory message sent to President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, highlighted his appreciation for the growing Vietnam-India comprehensive strategic partnership and the nations’ mutual support amid the pandemic.

Emperor of Japan Naruhito also cabled his congratulations to the Vietnamese President.

Meanwhile, President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Moon Jae-in và Speaker of the RoK’s National Assembly (NA) Park Byeong-seug congratulated President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, expressing their belief that the two countries’ friendship will thrive and their people-to-people exchange will be deepened.

Congratulating President Phuc and Vietnamese people, US President Joe Biden said he is proud of progresses made by the two countries in building their partnership for peace, prosperity and security in the region. He affirmed the US will stand side by side with Vietnam in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

In their messages to the Vietnamese State leader, Governor-General of Australia David Hurley vowed to continue supporting Vietnam in accessing COVID-19 vaccine sources, while President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier lauded the role and multilateral efforts of Vietnam and Germany in upgrading the EU-ASEAN ties to strategic partnership and hoped the bilateral cooperation to grow stronger despite the pandemic.

Also sending congratulations to Phuc were President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, Governor-General of Canada Mary Simon, President of Romania Klaus Werner Iohannis, King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf, President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Salman of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud, President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and Secretary-General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) Louise Mushikiwabo, among many others.

On the occasion, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received congratulations from Speaker of the Senate of Canada George Furey and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada Anthony Rota, President of the Senate of Romania Anca Dana Dragu, and Speaker of the Mongolian Parliament Gombojav Zandanshatar, among others.

Meanwhile, similar messages were delivered to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh from his Romanian, Bangladeshi and Mongolian counterparts.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son also received congratulations from his counterparts from Romania, Egypt, Algeria, Mongolia, Turkey, and Sri Lanka./.

Vietnam football team return home to prepare for match against Australia

The Vietnam football team arrived home on September 3 evening and will stay at a hotel following their COVID prevention bubble rule before their next match against Australia on September 7 at My Dinh Stadium.

Australia currently are top of Group B after beating China 3-0 at Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar on September 3. They are scheduled to arrive in Vietnam on September 4.

Before leaving home, the Vietnamese players lost to Saudi Arabia rivals by three goals to one in their opening World Cup qualifier on September 3 in Riyadh.

"We scored first but lost this match. We were unlucky suffering two goals from the penalty spot, and then we played with less men," Coach Park Hang-seo said at the post-match briefing.

"Clearly the shortage of personnel created more problems for us than our lower level of technique compared to the hosts. The result, of course, could not be changed but if we could play with full players, it could have been closer."

Park and his players did threaten an upset from the off after an early goal by Nguyen Quang Hai three minutes into the game. The team had to work hard to protect their lead in the first half.

The second half saw Vietnamese defender Do Duy Manh receiving a second yellow card in the 54th minute. His sliding challenge resulted in a handball inside the box, prompting the referee to point to the spot and send Manh off following confirmation from VAR.

In the second period Saudi Arabia scored two penalties converted by Salem Al Dawsari and Saleh Al Shehri. Yasser Al Shahrani also scored a stunning header at the King Saud University Stadium.

"My players tried their best," the coach added. "Two penalties showed some lack of tactics which will be perfected when we play back home.

"In the next match we know Australia are stronger than Saudi Arabia. But on home ground, we will try harder," he said./. 

HCM City gives free books to people in locked-down zones

People living in locked-down and quarantined zones, and patients staying at COVID-19 treatment hospitals in HCM City, have received free books as part of the programme “Sách trao tay - Học ngày giãn cách” (Books for Learning during Social Distancing Days).

The programme was launched by the city Department of Information and Communications, the southern representative agency of the Việt Nam Publishers’ Association (VNPA), the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union of HCM City, and the Book Street Company. 

Lê Hoàng, VNPA’s vice chairman, said: "We hope people can be entertained and learn from the knowledge in the books during social distancing days.” 

“Books are necessary for people’s cultural life.”

Hoàng said the programme had received huge support from local publishing houses and book distributors. 

The programme has given away tens of thousands of  copies of 2,500 book titles since mid-July. They include comics and colouring books for children, novels, and medical, skill and reference books for teenagers and adults.

The programme has also provided a library of more than 2,000 titles of audiobooks and e-books for free downloading via applications Voiz FM and Waka.

Nguyễn Kim Oanh of Bình Thạnh District said she was surprised and happy when receiving books from the programme. 

"I’m a book lover, so these books are precious to me. With them, I can help my children create reading habit during social distancing days."

Hoàng said: "Our programme has received a warm welcome from the community, so we are trying our best to bring more books to the city’s readers.”

“We hope this will entertain people at home and spread the reading culture, as well as create a reading habit among the community, particularly the younger generation,” Hoàng added.

Sapa tourism scene quiet amid Covid-19

The previously bustling tourist town of Sapa has become quieter due to travel restrictions and the lack of tourists.

Sapa Church area used to be crowded with tourists but it has recently been much quieter. Vuong Trinh Quoc, chairman of the Sapa People's Committee said in the past few weeks, they only received 250 visitors. People who want to go to Sapa must be tested for Covid-19 and quarantined.

In 2019, Sapa received 50,000-60,000 visitors. The number of visitors in 2021 as of now only accounts for 0.04% of 2019's. Most hotels and restaurants are already closed.

"A large number of visitors were from Hanoi and HCM City and nearby provinces. However, these provinces and cities are dealing with a severe outbreak and implementing strict social distancing rules," Quoc said.   

People in Sapa also go out less and crowds outside public places are banned. Visitors to the markets must wear face masks and have their body temperature taken. A trader said life was getting more difficult since the majority of their customers used to be tourists. Since travelling is more difficult, the prices of everything also get higher.

Nguyen Van Dao, a tour organiser, has been out of a job for the past four months. He and his wife then sell dried salmon floss online to earn some money. But their business is struggling now as transportation is limited.

"Many people have left the city to wait out the outbreak. Some others tried to find other work. Sapa has never lack visitors for so long," Dao said.

HCMC sets up facilities for Covid patients ineligible for home treatment

Nguyen Ho Hai, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee said that district administrations ought to set up more treatment and isolation facilities because the health sector has accelerated testing detecting more new Covid-19 patients and many of them are ineligible for home treatment.

He made the statement while paying visits to the multi-story Covid-19 field hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 11 and Binh Chanh District encouraging the medical staff.

Many infection cases are eligible for home isolation whereas other cases that are not eligible to be placed in isolation need to be taken to concentrated treatment areas. Therefore, the localities must actively establish more isolation areas to receive people with Covid-19.

He noted that District 11 and Binh Chanh outlying district have many densely populated areas, rental houses, and dilapidated houses; therefore, inhabitants in these districts easily catch the disease. People infected with Covid-19 must be brought to treatment facilities. The local government must relocate people to curb the pandemic spread.

Speaking at a meeting with the delegation led by Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai, Doctor Nguyen Thi Hong Mai, who is in charge of the Covid-19 field hospital in District 11 said that the 200-bed hospital has 200 high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) oxygen machines for critically ill patients with Covid-19. The hospital receives patients from wards and district hospitals. Currently, the hospital is treating 120 patients with Covid-19.

In Binh Chanh outlying district, Dr. Pham Nguyen Anh Vu, deputy director of the Covid-19 treatment field hospital No. 1, said the 1,000-bed hospital is currently treating 500 people with mild symptoms and 50 severe cases requiring ventilation. The facility has so far discharged more than 300 patients including 8 serious cases.

Up to now, the Binh Chanh Covid-19 field hospital No.1  has received more than 10,000 Covid-19 patients and discharged over 7,000 cases. Nearly 700 infected patients requiring mechanical ventilation have been so far discharged.

According to hospital leaders, so far, the hospital has limited the number of cases that have to be transferred to big hospitals contributing to reducing pressure on the large hospitals.

On this occasion, the Standing Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City also donated six HFNC high-flow oxygen machines to the above two hospitals.

HCMC Center for Disease Control said that on September 4 morning, the city recorded 214,603 Covid-19 cases confirmed by the Ministry of Health, including 241,143 cases found in the community and 460 imported cases.

At present, the city is treating 41,470 patients including 2,915 children under 16 years old, 2,779 put on ventilators and 20 patients in need of ECMO intervention.

On September 3, the city recorded 250 Covid-19 related deaths. There were 4,172 patients discharged from hospitals taking the total number to 120,509 from the beginning of the year. The city reported 108,955 F0 cases being treated at home.

As of September 2, HCMC had administered 6,268,327 vaccine doses. Of these, 5,899,379 received their first shots while 368,948 people got the second shots.

HCM City residents need to raise awareness of trading fraudulent travel pass

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Le Manh Ha, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Municipal Department of Public Security warned the residents to raise their awareness of trading fraudulent travel passes.

Speaking at the press conference yesterday on Covid-19 prevention and control, Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control Pham Duc Hai informed that Ho Chi Minh City has experienced 12 days of stricter social distancing order implementation. According to the latest updated Covid-19 news, the Ministry of Health confirmed 233,093 coronavirus infections with 4,172 daily discharged patients from hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City by September 2.

From January 1 up to now, 120,509 recovered patients have gone home and 9,974 deaths of Covid-19 have been confirmed.

As for the vaccination process, the city run out of 6,268,327 doses by September 2.

From August 15 to September 1, HCMC gave 1,474,683 gift bags to support the poor and self-employed workers during social distancing days. With 14,000 tons of rice from the national reserve dedicated for the Covid-19 hit people, HCMC received and planned to deliver 6,000 tons of rice to the eligible cases as soon as possible.

Amid the Covid-19 surges, the city health sector has increased the capacity of beds for hospitalized cases related to Covid-19.

According to Doctor Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, Vice Director of the Municipal Department of Health, Vietnam has not detected new coronavirus variant apart from the Delta variant.