The first teleconference of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies was held on March 31 under the chair of Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting Vietnam.

While Vietnam remains significantly exposed to the COVID-19 outbreak and the ongoing turbulence in the global financial markets, its economy stays resilient to external shocks in the first few months of 2020, according to the World Bank (WB).

UK Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward and Consul General in HCM City Ian Gibbons have advised UK citizens who are living and working in Vietnam to comply with local laws and customs amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Food processing firms in Ho Chi Minh City have stepped up production to meet demand while also enhancing safety measures for their staff amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. have discussed on cooperation between the two countries at bilateral and multilateral levels during their recent phone talks.

The Government Office said Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has ordered the setting up of a managing unit for the Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway project.

The Hanoi Department of Education and Training has issued guidelines for schools and vocational education centres to extend online and television-based teaching amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The High-Level People’s Court in Hanoi will hold an appeal trial from April 13 to 16 for the case involving MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation’s purchase of a 95 percent share in Audio Visual Global JSC (AVG).

HCM City Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong has agreed to a proposal from the municipal Transport Department on suspending all public bus services in the locality from April 1 to the end of April 15.

Export of fresh fruit to China via train using refrigerated containers has contributed to curbing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN, has called all concerned parties to continue pursuing dialogue and seeking long-term political solutions for the situation in Syria.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) is scheduled to begin a survey of businesses on April 1 with a view to collecting basic information to serve management and policy making, Deputy General Director of the office Nguyen Trung Tien said.

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has committed to intensifying the operation of freight flights, both domestically and internationally, amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region continued to report new COVID-19 cases and deaths on March 31.

Up to 62 percent of respondents in Vietnam say that their government is doing “right amount” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the biggest public survey on COVID-19 conducted by the Berlin-based Dalia Research.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has been cracking down on profiteers for selling face masks, hand sanitisers and other items for inflating prices due to the high demand caused by the ravaging COVID-19 epidemic.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued a range of stringent social distancing measures, including restricting people from leaving their homes and banning gatherings of more than two people in public.

Catfish exports to China dropped by half in the first two months of the year in comparison with the same period last year, resulting in a 32 percent decrease in total export turnover for the entire seafood industry.

It’s not the first time Nguyen Van Chien has been sent on a mission, but it is the first time he has been stationed at a quarantine zone to prevent a pandemic.

The managers of Sun Group, BRG and Vietjet, speaking at a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in mid-March, said they were facing difficulties.