No new Covid-19 cases were reported on Monday morning in Vietnam, marking five days in a row without virus community transmission according to the Ministry of Health.

A stranded tourist in the central city of Da Nang is supported to return home. (Photo: VNA)

The figure includes 691 cases infected domestically, of which 551 related to the outbreak in the central city of Da Nang since July 25.

Among the active patients, 27 have tested negative for the novel coronavirus once, 24 twice and 35 three times.

The committee also noted that nine patients are in critical conditions, three of them testing negative for the virus three times.

Total recoveries stand at 815 and death toll 35. Most of the fatalities were the elderly with serious underlying diseases.

There are 39,975 people having close contact with confirmed cases or coming from pandemic-hit areas under quarantine at present.

Innovative creations for community service during COVID-19 epidemic

During COVID-19, a lot of scientific initiatives and innovation have also been put into operation. In Da Nang city, from the beginning many automated devices have been quickly researched and put into operation by school units as well as youth union members.  

The device for counting people in and out of this market was conceptualized and implemented by teachers and students of Danang Vocational College within 5 days since Da Nang City started distributing even and odd market tickets. Integrating camera, automatic antiseptic water nozzle and mean to control the number of people currently in the market, this device contributes to the social distance in the markets.

Stemming from the real need of the community, these automatic disinfection machines have been quickly put together and put into use. With the convenience of effectively helping to limit cross-contamination, these machines have been rapidly replicated across the city during epidemic season.

With initiatives aimed at practical community service, young people not only show their role, but also contribute to protecting the doctors or the police, army.

Over the past time, Da Nang has joined hands with the city government to fight off epidemics, such practical and valuable scientific initiatives can be considered as the most effective weapons that young people have contributed to the city's anti-epidemic work.

Philippines secures over 8.8 bln USD for COVID-19 response

The Philippines has so far secured a total of 8.83 billion USD in borrowings, loans and grant assistance for the government's COVID-19 response efforts from its development partners and the commercial markets, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Philippine Department of Finance (DOF) said on September 6 that of the total amount, 5.98 billion USD is budget support financing from the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the French Development Agency and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

A total of 2.35 billion USD was sourced from the government's latest global bond offering that fetched its lowest ever coupon in the USD market, the DOF added.

The DOF said the remaining 496.36 million USD is from grant and loan financing from the Philippines' development partners for various COVID-19 specific projects.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said that total government borrowings for 2020 and 2021 are projected to reach 3 trillion pesos (roughly 61.7 billion USD) to support priority expenditures necessary for the country's swift recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and public investments in infrastructure and social services.

Dominguez added that borrowings are expected to settle at 2.3 trillion pesos (roughly 47.3 billion USD) in 2022, with funding in favor of domestic sources.

He said the debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to settle at 54 percent this year, 58 percent in 2021, and 60 percent in 2022.

Dominguez added that these projections are still lower when compared to the country's all-time high debt level of 71.6 percent of GDP in 2004. Last year, the debt-to-GDP ratio fell to a historic low at 39.6 percent.

COVID-19-triggered lockdowns severely curtailed the country’s economic activities and muted its revenue-generation capacity, with total revenue collection reaching only 1.7 trillion pesos (roughly 35 billion USD) in the first seven months of 2020, or 7 percent lower than the revenue take in the same period last year, with 85 percent of the revenues coming from tax collections.

Industrial parks serious about tackling pandemic

Although there has been no case of any factory being closed due to suspected Covid-19 infection but the prevention and surveillance works have been taken seriously in many industrial parks in the southern city of Ho Chi Minh.  

These shields on workers' dining tables have been installed since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Vietnam. Besides ensuring safety of workers' meals, epidemic prevention at the factory has been carried out seriously. The food production has been strengthened than ever.

In addition, with a large volume of cargo trucks regularly entering and leaving factories, monitoring of epidemic prevention right from entrance is extremely important. Many businesses require mandatory medical declaration at the entrance gate, thereby reducing the risk of bringing pathogens into the factory.

Ho Chi Minh City currently has 18 export processing zones, industrial zones in operation, with about 1,500 businesses and 300,000 workers. With the current complicated development of the pandemic, the risk of disease transmission is still high. Therefore, it is very important to raise the awareness of self-protection for workers and factories, in order to help the city to achieve the dual goal of both production and epidemic prevention.

Da Nang sees off medical staff as COVID-19 situation under control

The People’s Committee of Da Nang city on Sunday said goodbye to five out of eight medics from Ho Chi Minh City who came lending their helping hands to stamp out the COVID-19 outbreak.

Le Trung Chinh, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang municipal People’s Committee, thanked the timely support from other localities, including Ho Chi Minh city, for Da Nang to overcome the hard time. The situation now is under control as a result of doctors and nurses's four weeks of working tirelessly. 

Since the COVID-19 resurfaced on July 25 after a 99-day streak of no community infection, Da Nang city has gone through one week without any COVID-19 infection. 70 cases have been treated at health facilities. 31 Da Nang citizens have died of the coronavirus. 

So far Vietnam has reported 691 locally transmitted cases of 1,049 cases in total.

Indonesia reports over 3,440 COVID-19 cases on Sept 6

Indonesia confirmed new 3,444 COVID-19 infections on September 6, raising the tally to 194,109, with total death toll at 8,025, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

Jakarta capital posted the largest number of new cases on the day with 1,176, followed by East Java with 303 and West Sumatra 244.

On the day, 2,174 patients were declared to have recovered, bringing the recoveries to 138,575.

At present, the SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 has spread to all 34 localities of the country.

Meanwhile, Malaysia had six new cases to report on September 6, including three imported, raising the national count to 9,397.

As many as 9,115 patients were given the all-clear, accounting for 97 percent. The country reported 128 COVID-19 deaths.

More than 240 Vietnamese citizens brought home from Philippines

More than 240 Vietnamese citizens in the Philippines were brought home on a flight operated by VietJet on September 6.

The flight was arranged by Vietnamese authorities, the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines, the carrier, and relevant agencies of the host country.

The passengers included children under 18, pregnant women, the ill, students without accommodations, labourerss with expired labour contracts and stranded tourists.

The Vietnamese Embassy sent officials to the airport to help them with boarding procedures.

Security, safety and hygiene measures were carried out throughout the flight to protect their health and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Upon landing at Can Tho International Airport in the Mekong Delta city of Can Cho, those on board received health check-ups and were sent to concentrated quarantine facilities.

More flights are set to be conducted in the time ahead to repatriate Vietnamese citizens with disadvantaged circumstances, depending on their need and quarantine capacity at home.

Nearly 1,000 Vietnamese citizens return home on Friday and Saturday

Close to 1,000 Vietnamese citizens were safely flown home on repatriation flights on September 4 and September 5.

Specifically, on September 4, nearly 350 Vietnamese people were repatriated from Australia and New Zealand on a flight which was conducted under a joint effort of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, Vietnamese authorities, representative missions of Việt Nam in Australia and New Zealand and the two countries' authorities. 

The passengers included children aged under 18, the elderly, people with sickness, workers whose visas or labour contracts expired, students with no residences due to dormitory closures and those in extremely difficult circumstances.

Given that travel restrictions continue to be in place in Australia and New Zealand in response to COVID-19, Vietnamese missions in the two countries have worked with local authorities to facilitate travel of Vietnamese expats to pickup points at airports in Sydney and Melbourne (Australia).

Vietnamese diplomats were also sent there to assist the citizens with procedures until they boarded the flight.

Upon landing at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City, all the flight crew and passengers were given heath checkups and put into compulsory quarantine in accordance with regulations.

Meanwhile, on September 5, the repatriation flight from Singapore operated by Vietjet Air carried over 240 passengers, all of whom were in particularly disadvantaged circumstances, and 405 passengers were on the flight from the RoK, operated by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines.

Upon the Vietjet flight’s arrival at Cần Thơ International Airport and the Vietnam Airlines flight’s arrival at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, those on board received medical check-ups and were sent to concentrated quarantine sites in line with regulations.

Security, safety and hygiene measures were carried out throughout the flights to protect passengers’ health and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

More overseas Vietnamese with disadvantages are set to be brought home in the time ahead basing on their aspirations, the pandemic’s developments and local quarantine capacity. 

Also on September 5, as reported by the Treatment Sub-Committee of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Control and Prevention, 19 patients have been given all clear, including six patients at Đà Nẵng Lung Hospital, nine at Hòa Vang District Medical Centre and four at Quảng Nam Central General Hospital. The total recoveries in Việt Nam now reach 805.