This marks the 79th straight day without local community transmission of the coronavirus in the country as of 6pm on July 4. Among the total 355 confirmed cases so far, 215 are imported and quarantined upon arrival.

Up to 340 or 95.8 percent of all infections have recovered, and there are no related deaths.

Most of the 15 remaining patients are in stable condition, with three negative for the coronavirus at least twice.

Meanwhile, 10,621 people are currently in quarantine, including 103 in hospitals, 10,121 in other quarantine facilities, and 397 at home.

COVID-19: Over 350 Vietnamese citizens repatriated from Australia, New Zealand

More than 350 Vietnamese citizens from Australia and New Zealand were brought home safe and sound on July 3.

Vietnamese agencies in and outside the country have coordinated with the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, and agencies of Australia and New Zealand to arrange the flight to bring the citizens home.

Passengers were mostly children, the elderly, pregnant women, those with illnesses, and workers and students made homeless after their working contracts ended or campus closed.

Preventive measures were taken seriously during the flight. After landing at the Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, 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 pandemic developments at home and abroad, the citizens’ aspirations, and quarantine capacity in localities.

Vietnam spends over VND15 trillion on fight against Covid-19

Some VND15.4 trillion from the State budget has been spent on the battle against the coronavirus pandemic and to offer support for residents affected by the virus to date, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung told a teleconference between the Government and localities on July 2.

Minister Dung said that of the total, VND4.1 trillion was used for Covid-19 infection prevention and control efforts, while the Government spent VND11.3 trillion on reducing taxes or extending tax payment deadlines for 11 million businesses and individuals affected by Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Apart from this, the State budget has extracted over VND1.6 trillion from the backup fund for 2020 to help some localities fight the African swine fever outbreak and to ensure production recovers after the drought and salt intrusion.

Some 13,600 tons of rice from the national reserve have been given to localities hit hard by natural disasters as part of hunger elimination and relief efforts.

Between January and June, the State budget collection reached a mere 44.2% of the estimate or VND668 trillion, down 11% year-on-year. The figure was the lowest since 2013, VnExpress news site reported.

Accordingly, domestic collections inched down by 8% year-on-year, reaching 44.1% of the estimate, while crude oil revenue dropped by 28.5%.

The fall in collections reflected the difficulties plaguing the country’s economy, Dung said.

In the second half of the year, the negative impact from the pandemic is expected to continue to make budget collection difficult, Minister Dung added.

The ministry will continue to work out various measures over taxes and fees to open up a wide door for business and production, he said.

Việt Nam gifts face masks to UK, Ireland

The Embassy of Việt Nam in the UK handed over 135,000 antimicrobial face masks to authorities of London and Wales on Thursday (local time) to support the fight against COVID-19.

This is the first batch of a total of 500,000 masks from Việt Nam which will be sent to over 30 localities and organisations of the UK and Ireland.

At the handover ceremony, Ambassador Trần Ngọc An underlined the thriving and close-knit cooperation between Việt Nam and the UK, as the two countries are marking the 10th year of their bilateral strategic partnership this year.

The 500,000 masks from budget carrier Vietjet Air to the UK demonstrate the sound bilateral relations with proactive engagement of firms, organisations and people, he noted.

London is among the first UK localities to make wearing masks mandatory when using public transport, in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Cheryl Dennis, head of Wales’ London Office, thanked the Vietnamese Government and people for the support and vowed to distribute the masks to the people in need. 

Vietnamese woman donates masks to German people 

A Vietnamese woman donated 300,000 masks to German people in Leipzig City to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic on July 1.

Visiting her children in January,  Đỗ Thị Kim Liên, president of the Green Vietnam Fund, was stuck in Leipzig City because of the pandemic.

Liên said: “Germany is a powerful nation but at this time it lacks masks. I would like to show the friendship of Vietnamese and German people and to thank the German people and Government for allowing us to stay for a very long time during the pandemic.”

To support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Việt Nam, Liên also contributed VNĐ2 billion (US$85,800) to the local government.

As the president of the Green Vietnam Fund, Liên has run social and charitable activities such as building schools in the northwestern region, rural bridges in the Central Highlands and Mekong River Delta.