The Ministry of Health on Tuesday evening announced the 79th and 80th COVID-19 related deaths in Vietnam, both are elderly female patients with severe underlying medical conditions.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has proposed that the World Bank (WB) help Vietnamn research and produce its own COVID-19 vaccines.

The Japanese government has decided to donate an additional one million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Vietnam and the consignment is due to arrive in July, said the Ministry of Health (MoH).

With the consumer price index (CPI) increasing by 1.47% during the first half of the year, the lowest rise since 2016, it remains entirely feasible for the country to keep inflation below 4% this year.

The Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) on June 29 signed a credit agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD) on a loan of $74.7 million euros to develop the expanded Ialy hydropower plant in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai.

Vietnam and Laos issued a 10-point joint statement on the occasion of an official friendship visit to Vietnam by Lao Party General Secretary and State President Thongloun Sisoulith from June 28-29.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a Government thematic meeting on law building, aiming to quickly remove obstacles in forms of mechanisms and policies, so as to better serve the people and enterprises.

The 22nd version of the Vietnam Film Festival is scheduled to take place in Thua Thien-Hue between September 12 and September 16, with the event featuring the best local movies released over the past two years.

HCM City should focus investment on flood-prevention, environmental protection, public transport and traffic-congestion projects to improve both quality of life and economic growth, the city People’s Council has said.

The Industry of Chemistry under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has successfully researched a new method for synthesizing Favipiravir, a prescribed drug against SARS-CoV-2, in the laboratory.

The 31st SEA Games hosted by Vietnam later this year is likely to be postponed until April or May 2022.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s busiest and most populous locality, is expected to extend social distancing which was imposed a month ago as the number of newly detected cases has increased considerably these days.

The current hot spell is likely to continue heating up both the northern and central regions over the next few days and will remain until July 4.

Fifty resident foreign reporters and press assistants at foreign press offices in Vietnam have recently got their first COVID-19 vaccine shots, according to the Ministry of Health.

Vietnam has jumped four places to rank 79th in the latest World Happiness Report 2021 released by the United Nations.

Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5.64 percent in the first half of this year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on June 29.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to give careful consideration to the proposal of extending the amount of foreign ownership at petrol and oil business to 35 per cent.

Some of the islands on the Truong Sa archipelago now have ship locks, which are thought of as “common houses” in the middle of the sea that help fishermen avoid storms and also provide fisheries logistics services. 

Processing-manufacturing industry takes lead in FDI attraction

The income of the owners of villas and street-front houses has dropped dramatically over the last year because of low demand. Many owners have been told to pay tax if their revenue is over VND100 million a year.

HCM City authorities plan to reduce investment for the first bus rapid transit route (BRT No 1) by US$12.17 million (from $155.85 million to $143.68 million), 

A 100-metre-long wall on Vu Trong Khanh Street in Hanoi's Ha Dong District, is now painted with colorful images that spread a message of fighting COVID-19. It is a work by the Hanoi Youth Union.

Vietnam's health ministry has granted conditional approval for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

Regular international flights can be gradually resumed by the end of 2021 as the COVID-19 situation will improve in the second half of the year when vaccination is accelerated in Vietnam and in the world.

Vietnamese Minister of Public Security Gen. To Lam led a Vietnamese high-ranking delegation to attend the first ASEAN – Russia security consultation conference, which was held online on June 28.