Up to 92.17 percent of Vietnamese students have returned to school (Photo: VNA)

The People’s Committee of Hanoi has agreed with the municipal Department of Education and Training’s proposal to get pupils from first to sixth grades in 30 districts and townships across the city back to school for face-to-face learning from April 6 after a long period of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impacts.

Under a document signed by Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Chu Xuan Dung on April 4, on the foundation of consensus of parents, schools are allowed to organise day-long direct learning and provide meals for students at schools.

Vietnam women’s football team set to defend gold at SEA Games

The Vietnamese women’s football team will leave for the Republic of Korea on April 6 for intensive training to defend their gold medal at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 31 to be held in Vietnam in May.

Coaches will use the camp to work on a number of likely formations and styles ahead of the tournament.

In the RoK, the Vietnamese team will have two friendly matches with the RoK women’s team on April 9 and April 11. Then they will have four more friendly matches against strong female teams.

On April 21, the Vietnamese team will return home and move to Quang Ninh province to complete the final preparations for the region's biggest sporting event.

During this gathering for the Games, coach Chung called up 31 players, including many young faces to familiarise themselves with events from the SEA Games to the 2023 World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand.

The Vietnamese squad will have a busy year when they will compete in the SEA Games in May, the AFF Cup in the Philippines in July, and the qualifying round of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in China in September.

Vietnam to issue vaccine passports from April 15

Vietnam will roll out vaccine passports from April 15, the Health Ministry announced on Monday.

The passport will be available on PC Covid-19 or Digital Health apps. If people don’t have the apps, they can get their passports by accessing the Health Ministry's portal and filling out necessary information, and they will be sent by email.

The passport entails information like one's name, date of birth, the disease which they're vaccinated against, the number of shots, and the date of vaccination. Data will be encoded into a QR code. The QR code will expire after 12 months. Following their expiry, people will be notified and a new QR code will be created instead.

As of Sunday, Vietnam had administered over 206 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

The country is set to vaccinate children aged between 5-11 this month.

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Algeria to host Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts World Championship 2022

The Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts World Championship 2022 is set to take place in Algiers capital of Algeria from July 16-21.

Nearly 20 teams across the world have signed up for the competition, including those from France, Germany, Switzerland, Cameroon and Senegal. The number is expected to increase in the coming time.

The host - the Federation of Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts in Algeria - and relevant agencies in the African nation have exerted efforts to prepare for the tournament, particularly training for referees.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Algeria Nguyen Thanh Vinh underlined that the martial arts event, viewed as a major one of Algeria and the World Federation of Vietnamese Martial Arts, was initially planned to take place two years ago but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts World Championship 2022 is set to take place in Algiers capital of Algeria from July 16-21.

SEA Games 31: Vietnamese shooters aim at 5-7 gold medals

Vietnam’s shooting team has set a target of winning between five and seven gold medals at the upcoming 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), with the shooters scheduled to take a pre-SEA Games tournament at home this weekend.

This year, Vietnam’s Olympic medallist Hoang Xuan Vinh will not compete as he has moved to work as a coach. The medal hopefuls are Ha Minh Thanh, Pham Quang Huy, Phan Cong Minh, Nguyen Xuan Chuyen and Nguyen Dinh Thanh (men’s pistol), Nguyen Thu Vinh (women’s pistol), and Phi Thu Thao and Nguyen Thu Trang (women’s rifle). They just completed a two-month training in the Republic of Korea.

The pre-SEA Games event of shooting will be held on April 10 covering all the categories in the official competition programme, confirmed Dao.

Miss Peace Vietnam 2022 kicks off

The Miss Peace Vietnam 2022’s preliminary round is underway in all the three northern, central and southern regions of the country, lasting from April 4 to the end of July, heard at a press conference on the beauty contest held in the central city of Da Nang on April 4.

According to the organiser, the semi-final night will take place on September 3, and the final night is scheduled for September 11 in Da Nang.

Miss Peace Vietnam 2022 will receive the crown and a reward worth 500 million VND (21,884 USD); while the first and second runners-up will go home with 300 million VND and 200 million VND, respectively.

Vietnam held by Myanmar in AFF Futsal Championship opener

Vietnam drew 1-1 with Myanmar in their first match at the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Futsal Championship 2022 on April 4.

Vietnam opened the scoring in the 14th minute but were pegged back in the 27th minute by their rivals.

Coach Pham Minh Giang’s team will meet Timor Leste on April 5 and Australia on April 6.

The regional tournament, running until April 10, will also serve as the qualification for the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2022, with the top three teams representing ASEAN in the finals in Kuwait this September.

Binh Thuan: Cham people’s Kate Festival listed as national intangible cultural heritage

The Kate Festival of the Cham ethnic people in the south central province of Binh Thuan has been included on a list of national intangible cultural heritages, according to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Kate, the most important folk festival of Brahmanism followers, pays tribute to the gods and prays for good weather, bumper crops, and the development of people and all living things. It features both traditional rituals and folk games.

Binh Thuan is currently home to nearly 40,000 Cham people, mostly in Tuy Phong, Bac Binh, Ham Thuan Bac and Tanh Linh districts.

Hanoi, Vientiane enhance cooperation

Hanoi Party Committee’s Secretary Dinh Tien Dung and his Vientiane counterpart Anouphap Tounalom held talks in Vientiane on April 4, during which the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will serve as the foundation for bilateral cooperative activities in 2022-2025.

Accordingly, the two cities will maintain and promote the exchange of high-level delegations, continue to share experiences in the development of legal documents, supervise the building of the e-government, urban planning and management and create favourable conditions for exchanges between their departments, and mass organisations.

They will encourage and support their agencies and units in organising joint activities and people-to-people exchanges to enhance mutual understanding and promote multi-field cooperation.

At the talks, Hanoi announced it would assist Vientiane with 3 million USD to build the headquarters of the Department of Justice and the Procuracy Agency of Vientiane.

RoK waives quarantine, extends labour contracts for Vietnamese workers

The Republic of Korea (RoK) has decided to continue waiving the mandatory seven-day quarantine and extend labour contracts for eligible Vietnamese workers.

Accordingly, from April 1, Vietnamese workers entering the RoK continue to be exempted from seven-day quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Apart from vaccination certificates, they also need to have a certificate of negative COVID-19 test results prior to their departure and have their QR code checked when arriving in the RoK.

In addition, workers whose labour contracts expire from April 13 will have their contracts automatically extended.

After the RoK Government decided to relax anti-pandemic rules for foreigners on April 1, the number of Vietnamese workers entering this country under the EPS programme is likely to surge in the time ahead.

National Cup renamed in football sponsorship deal

The National Cup football tournament will kick off this afternoon under a new name as part of a sponsorship deal signed in Hà Nội.

The Việt Nam Professional Football Company (VPF) officially announced that BaF Việt Nam Agriculture Joint Stock Company would sponsor the tournament over the 2022 season, and the event will be named the BaF Meat National Cup.

BaF is a leading national company specialising in animal breeding, farming and supply.

The National Cup gathers 25 clubs from V.League 1 and 2. Eighteen teams will enter the knock-out qualification round.

Two games will be held on April 6, and five on April 7. The winners will join seven other teams in the last-eight round on April 9, 10 and 11.

The final is scheduled for November 20.

The winner will walk away with a VNĐ1 billion (US$44,000) purse and will represent Việt Nam at the AFC Cup 2023.

The second and third-placed teams will receive VNĐ500 million and VNĐ200 million, respectively.

COVID vaccines for children to arrive on May 10

The first batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to inoculate children aged 5-11 is expected to arrive in Việt Nam on May 10, according to Deputy Minister of Health Đỗ Xuân Tuyên.

The vaccines are part of a donation from Australia, he said on Monday at a press briefing for the Government's regular meeting.

Apart from Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines (Comirnaty) approved for use in children aged 5-11 years old, Vietnamese health authorities said they had expanded the emergency use authorisation for Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (Spikevax) to include children from 6 to 11 years old.

HCM City sets up committee to steer digital transformation

The HCM City People’s Committee has formed a steering committee to oversee the city’s digital transformation programme by merging two existing ones for the smart urban and e-government development projects.

People’s Committee Chairman Phan Văn Mãi is the head of the 23-member committee and deputy chairman Dương Anh Đức is its standing deputy head.

The heads of various departments such as information and communications, home affairs, science and technology, finance, and public security and of the Institute for Research and Development are deputy heads or members.

The steering committee is tasked with drafting and implementing yearly plans for both the digital transformation programme and smart urban project.

Gov’t issues action plan to develop Khánh Hòa province by 2030

The Government has begun an action plan to develop the central coastal province of Khánh Hòa into a leading tourism and agriculture hub over the next eight years.

Among the targets for 2025, this resolution aims at gross regional domestic product per capita of VNĐ104 million (over US$4,500), an urbanisation rate of 65 per cent, non-agricultural workers accounting for 77.97 per cent of the local workforce, and a rate of trained workers at 85 per cent.

The respective targets for 2030 will increase to VNĐ189 million, 70 per cent, 81.91 per cent, and 90 per cent.

Seven former officials on trial for violating land regulations

Seven former officials on Monday went on trial for "violation of regulations on land management" at the Khánh Hòa People’s Court.

The trial was based on Clause 3, Article 229 of the 2015 Penal Code.

The criminal case centres on activities at the Cửu Long Sơn Tự Spiritual Ecology Project and the Vĩnh Trung River Mountain Villa Project in Nha Trang City, Khánh Hòa Province.

The defendants are Nguyễn Chiến Thắng and Lê Đức Vinh, both former chairmen of the provincial People’s Committee; Đào Công Thiên, former deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee; Lê Mộng Điệp and Võ Tấn Thái, former director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Lê Văn Dẽ, former director of the provincial Department of Construction; and Trần Văn Hùng, former director of the Land Management Sub-department under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The trial is scheduled to last four to five days.

Two children drown, three remain missing in Thanh Hoa

Two children have drowned and three others remain missing while bathing at a river in Thanh Hoa Province.

According to the Thanh Hoa Police Department, the five 12-year-old girls went to bathe at Moc Khe River in Thieu Hoa District on the afternoon of April 4. They all then went missing.

"We were informed of the missing children at 10pm the same day and immediately sent a rescue team for searching," police said. "We found two bodies at 1am on April 5 while three others remain missing. The girls are students of Thieu Duy Secondary School."

Drowning is still one of the leading causes of death among children in Vietnam, though initial results in children injury protection have reduced deaths by an average of 100 cases per year. A study by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) shows that more than 2,000 children lose their lives every year to drowning in Vietnam.

As part of an initiative to prevent child injuries, including drowning, MOLISA has co-operated with the World Health Organisation to launch a programme that will focus activities on training at least 13,000 children on survival swimming and 20,000 children on water safety education in 2022.

Can Tho to open pedestrian streets near Ninh Kieu Wharf

Authorities in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho will pilot a pedestrian area in Ninh Kieu District starting April 30.

According to the Ninh Kieu District People's Committee, the pedestrian area will be held around some streets including Hai Ba Trung, Ngo Quyen, Nguyen An Ninh, Thu Khoa Huan near the Ninh Kieu Wharf.

Southern region-style music performances, folk games and cultural shows would be staged along the streets, apart from shopping and dining stalls.

According to vice chairman of Ninh Kieu District People’s Committee, Nguyen Ngoc Anh, the opening of the pedestrian streets is expected to attract more tourists to the area.

"The pedestrian streets are scheduled to become operational on the coming occasion of Reunification Day on April 30, '' the official said. "The area will be open every Saturday evening during the pilot period and may be extended to Sunday after that."

Unseasonal rains hit central Vietnam

Many localities in the central region of Vietnam have faced great losses due to unseasonal rains and flooding.

According to Quang Binh Province’s Steering Board for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Rescue, from March 31 to April 3, the province witnessed torrential rains, causing serious flooding in many areas.

The inundation has damaged over 5,900 hectares of rice, hundreds of crops and dozens of fish cages, causing a total loss of VND57 billion (USD2.46 million). Le Thuy and Quang Ninh districts have been hardest hit.

Quang Binh is seeking the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for assistance for affected households as well as the upgrading of local dykes.

Thua Thien-Hue Province saw losses of VND966 billion due to the flooding over recent days. Roughly 20,834 hectares of local rice have been submerged.

Rains have damaged many roads in Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Danang and Quang Nam and left three dead in the central region.

The central and Central Highlands regions have been forecasted to continue experiencing heavy rain, whirlwind, flash floods and landslides due to being affected by tropical depressions and storms in some days to come.

Festival to promote culinary specialties of the Mekong Delta region

A festival to introduce culinary specialties of the Mekong Delta region is scheduled to be held in Chau Doc City, An Giang Province, from April 20-24.

The event aims to promote and introduce typical products along with diverse and rich culinary specialties of An Giang and the traditional cultural beauty of the four ethnic groups of Kinh, Khmer, Cham, and Hoa living in An Giang.

The festival will also feature the promotion of the Mekong Delta region’s "Chau Doc fish sauce" brand to both domestic and foreign tourists.

The event will take place in Chau Phu A Ward Square and streets Thu Khoa Nghia - Chi Lang - Bach Dang in Chau Phu A Ward, Chau Doc City.

HCMC launches short-distance tours on Hung Kings’ Festival

Cadres, civil servants, public employees, and workers nationwide will enjoy three days off on the occasion of the upcoming Hung Kings’ Festival so they planned short-distance tours from Ho Chi Minh City to provinces of Long An, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Tay Ninh and so on.

According to tourism agencies in Ho Chi Minh City, the number of passengers booking tours this year increased well over the same period last year. Travel companies including Saigontourist, Vietravel and TSTtourist informed that numerous travelers had booked tours to Phu Quoc, Da Lat, Nha Trang but some visitors would make their final decision nearby the holiday.

Saltwater intrusion in Mekong River tends to reduce

In the first four days of this month, the Mekong Delta has suffered from tropical torrential rain spells, notably serious flooding-triggered rains occurred on the roads of Can Tho City.

According to the Southern Institute of Irrigation Science, the current water level in Kratie (Cambodia) raises to 8.61 meters.
Last week, the Canh Hong hydropower plant released maximum floodwater of up to 1,714 cubic meters to downstream areas. It is expected that this year’s dry season flow will be higher than the average for many years.

The highest salinity this month is forecast to reach 1‰ which could penetrate 40 to 50 kilometers, 50 to 55 kilometers, 65 to 70 kilometers inland on the Tien river, Ham Luong river, on the Vam Co river system respectively, decreased a lot compared to last month.

400 healthcare workers in HCMC quit jobs in three first months of 2022

Some 400 healthcare workers have been leaving healthcare jobs in public infirmaries in Ho Chi Minh City in three first months of the year citing long travel from homes to hospitals, a negative working environment, and low pay than expected, said Deputy Chief of Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Le Thien Quynh Nhu at yesterday’s press conference.

According to Ms. Nhu, in the first three months of 2022, medical staff working in public facilities decided to quit jobs in droves for many different reasons, including moving away from home to hospitals, the negative working environment, and low income.

During pandemic times, medical workers have had to work harder and take more risks, but many say they have been rewarded with pay cuts; therefore, the low salary was the top reason employees leave for a new job.

Scammers impersonating medical staff make phone calls to appropriate properties

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Security has just released a warning on scammers impersonating medical staff to make fraudulent calls to appropriate residents’ properties amid the current Covid-19 pandemic situation.

During the passing time, the Municipal Department of Health and its hotline confirmed residents’ reflections that some people impersonating medical staffs of Center for Covid-19 Control and Prevention made phone calls to the Covid-19 infectious people to meet and require them to transfer money via bank accounts to stay at home instead of the isolation implementation.
The scammers often used mobile phones, starting with +18444 1265410, +18445 3440501 and so on.

The HCMC Department of Public Security stressed that this was trickery to appropriate properties of people.

In case of stumbling upon the mentioned-above cases, people should promptly contact with local police to get support following the regulations.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP

VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES APRIL 4

Tropical depression and two storms to enter East Sea this week