Chairman of the Binh Duong provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hoang Thao on March 9 issued a document allowing foreign experts to enter the locality for working after the COVID-19 pandemic is kept under control.

Accordingly, Binh Duong authorities will continue to receive immigration and medical quarantine documents from foreign personnel who wish to enter Binh Duong to work at enterprises operating in the locality.

Thao asked the Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security, the provincial Department of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs, the provincial industrial parks management board and the provincial Department of Health to support and create favourable conditions for foreign experts and their relatives to arrive in the locality in line with regulations.

According to the provincial Department of Health, Binh Duong has basically controlled the pandemic. The locality went through 28 straight days with no new COVID-19 infections.

The Ministry of Health has just allocated 1,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the province’s Centre for Disease Control and 500 others to the Binh Duong General Hospital to vaccinate those working at the frontline of the COVID-19 fight./.

Vietnam, India boost defence collaboration

Vietnam and India have agreed to quickly carry out defence cooperation activities after the COVID-19 pandemic is put under control and the two Governments remove movement restrictions.

The consensus was reached by Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Nghia and Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane during their phone talks on March 9.

Nghia affirmed that over the past years, the two countries’ cooperation in general and their defence collaboration in particular have thrived.

Vietnam always attaches importance to developing its comprehensive and substantial relation with India as well as the bilateral cooperation so as to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the two countries, he added.

General Naravane suggested both sides step up all-level delegation exchanges, especially young soldiers.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese officer proposed intensifying cooperation in training, military medicine, information technology, UN peacekeeping and military sports.

He expressed his hope that the outcomes of the phone talks will contribute to enhancing the bilateral collaboration./.

Nine foreigners arrested for illegal entry

Chinese men entering Vietnam illegally arrested (Source: baobinhphuoc.com.vn)

Nine foreigners entering Vietnam illegally and one Vietnamese citizen were handed over to the Medical Centre of Dong Phu district in southern Binh Phuoc province on March 9 for concentrated quarantine, as regulated.

One day earlier, police in the district’s Tan Phuoc commune discovered seven Chinese people.

Through initial investigations, they arrested three more, including two Chinese nationals and one Vietnamese national residing in HCM City’s Binh Thanh district.

The nine Chinese nationals confessed that they had entered Vietnam illegally through the northern border province of Lang Son and were promised transportation by a Vietnamese person to a third country to work.

When arriving in Tan Phuoc commune, they were taken to an empty house.

As they feared they were being trafficked, they escaped and were then found by local police.

The district Medical Centre then disinfected the entirety of Tan Phuoc commune, especially areas the arrestees had passed through, and took them to a concentrated quarantine facility of Binh Phuoc province’s Military School./.

Two new COVID-19 cases logged in 12 hours

Vietnam posted two new COVID-19 cases, one imported and one in the northern province of Hai Duong, in the past 12 hours to 6:00 pm on March 9, according to the Health Ministry’s bulletin.

As a result, the number of domestically-transmitted infections increased to 1,587, including 894 cases recorded since the latest wave of outbreaks began on January 27.

As many as 45,091 people who came in close contact with COVID-19 patients or arrived from pandemic-hit areas were under quarantine nationwide, including 498 in hospitals, 15,045 in other quarantine sites, and 29,548 at home.

Among the patients under treatment, 48 tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 once, 42 twice, and 118 thrice.

The number of recoveries were 2,004, while the death toll stood at 35./.

Construction of underground section of Nhon-Hanoi Station railway to start in May

Construction of a 4-km underground section of the Hanoi urban railway line No.3 (Nhon-Hanoi Station) will commence after May 1, with four underground stations from Station 9 in Kim Ma to Station 12 in Hanoi Station.

According to Le Trung Hieu, Vice Director of the Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB), tunnel boring machines (TBM) have been assembled and tested for digging work. The first TBM is to be handed over to the investor soon.

Hieu said that 20-45 technicians from the Republic of Korea, Italy and Fecon – a contractor of the project – will operate the machine.

With the scheduled progress of 10km per day, in optimal conditions, the digging work for the 4-km section will complete in about 400 days, said Hieu, adding that all safety standards will be ensured.

Hieu said that the second TBM is expected to be put into operation in June.

As scheduled, a 8.5km section of the urban railway line No.3 from Nhon to Kim Ma (University of Transport) will become operational in late 2021, while the 4km underground section will be put into operation in late 2022. Additional 8km underground section is expected to be constructed from Hanoi Station to Hanoi’s southern district of Hoang Mai.

The urban railway line No.3 has an investment of about 30.1 trillion VND (1.29 billion USD) comes from official development assistance of the French Development Agency and loans from the French Government.

The urban railway line No.3, connecting Nhon and Hanoi Station, will span 12.5km, running through six districts: Nam Tu Liem, Bac Tu Liem, Cau Giay, Ba Dinh, Dong Da and Hoan Kiem. It consists of 12 stations including eight elevated and four underground./.

Hanoi begins COVID-19 vaccination

Thanh Nhan Hospital in Hanoi on March 9 began giving COVID-19 vaccine shots to 30 staff members who are in regular and direct contact with sources of infections, becoming the first unit in the city to deploy the vaccination programme.

About 7,235 people, or 95 percent of the group of high-risk people in the capital who work at the frontline of the pandemic fight, will be vaccinated in this first phase, according to the Director of the municipal Department of Health Tran Thi Nhi Ha.

Those who are vaccinated will be granted a certificate of completion. The second shot will be given three months after the first, Ha said.

According to Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Health Hoang Duc Hanh, Thanh Nhan Hospital has been allowed to provide SARS-CoV-2 testing services and has also participated in large-scale testing in the community.

In the first phase, Hanoi will carry out vaccination in 30 districts and towns from March 9 to 18. It will use the existing system of the expanded immunisation programme and will mobilise more immunisation service providers if necessary.

In the morning the same day, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Chu Xuan Dung and representatives from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the municipal Department of Health inspected all procedures in the vaccination process./.

Ha Tinh police prosecute tiger bone glue maker

Police in the central province of Ha Tinh on March 9 launched legal proceedings against a local man for violating regulations on wildlife protection, under Article 234 of the 2015 Criminal Code.

At 11.30pm on January 19, police raided the home of Dinh Nhat Nghe in Quang Diem commune, Huong Son district, and found a 250-kg tiger lying motionless in the toilet.

The animal was immediately sent to the district’s police station for preservation and investigation.

Nghe admitted that he bought the tiger in the neighbouring province of Nghe An to make bone glue.

Many people incorrectly believe that tiger bone glue has the ability to cure bone diseases and even improve a man’s virility, despite the lack of any scientific evidence to support such ideas. These falsely-held beliefs are the main reason why tiger poaching is so rampant in Vietnam, and the production of tiger glue has led to a dramatic decline in the animal’s numbers in the country./.

Tien Giang's district launches measures to ensure production in dry season

Cai Lay district in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang is implementing a series of measures for natural disaster prevention in face of complicated weather developments, drought, and saline intrusion during the dry season.

Accordingly, it is investing more than 40.4 billion VND (1.7 million USD) in building in facilities for drought and saline intrusion prevention, with a focus on dredging 28 canals with a total length of over 56 km. In addition, the district has repaired damaged sluices and built 11 dams to store fresh water and prevent saltwater.

Localities in the district have been requested to build plans in response to drought, saltwater intrusion, and natural disasters, while local farmers must frequently get updated with related information to promptly protect their production.

Saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta will continue to increase in March and April, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting.

The peak of saltwater intrusion will occur during high tides on March 12 -16, March 27 – April 1, April 9 – 14 and April 24 – 30.

The delta, the country’s largest rice, fruit and seafood producer, is facing a higher than normal level of saltwater from the sea through river mouths in the ongoing dry season. However, it is not as severe as the level of the previous dry season./.

Son Tra peninsula begins ‘One Million Trees Plantation’ 

The central city of Đà Nẵng, in co-operation with the NGO GreenViet, has launched the ‘One Million Trees Plantation’ project in public parks and pedestrian zones in Sơn Trà District to provide a ‘green’ shadow for the community and reduce air pollution.

GreenViet said trees have been raised by the community, businesses and organisations for plantation at public parks in Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng and HCM City since 2019.

Sơn Trà District – home to 4,400ha of rich biodiversity in Sơn Trà Nature Reserve – is the first site in Đà Nẵng to launch the project.

According to GreenViet, more than 22,000 runners have joined the UpRace to raise funds for the project since 2019, and the first trees were planted in public parks in Sơn Trà District on Saturday before expanding to the other public sites.

Hoàng Hải Sơn, a co-ordinator of the project, said more green gardens will be built in the three cities with funding from communities, local people and businesses to improve the environment and fresh air in the most crowded urban areas in Việt Nam.

Last year, an eco-garden project, part of the ‘One Million Trees Plantation’ project, was launched in Quảng Nam Province to provide free education and a ‘green’ rehabilitation centre for 100 children with disabilities.

The Sơn Trà Nature Reserve, known for its rich biodiversity, is home to more than 1,300 red-shanked douc langurs and more than 1,000 plants and 370 animal species.

A view from the primary forest in Sơn Trà Nature Reserve in Đà Nẵng. The city has been conserving the reserve and planned more biodiversity protection sites in the future. VNS Photo Công Thành 
The European Union (EU) has agreed to fund a biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability project in Đà Nẵng from 2020-23 with total funding of 650,000 euros.

Đà Nẵng has planned total funds of US$4.4 million for conservation, forest protection and afforestation as well as establishing new reserves on 43,722ha by 2030. 

Online festival for book lovers slated for April

A national online book festival will be held on April 17, at book365.vn. (Photo: toquoc.vn)

A national online book festival will be held on April 17, at book365.vn.

Through exchanges and workshops, the event aims to promote activities of the Vietnam Book Day, and as well as the reading culture among young people.

Book lovers will have a chance to get an insight into digital transformation in the publishing industry, as well as how to access books in the context of the fourth Industrial Revolution.

The opening ceremony of the Vietnam Book Day, the eighth of its kind, will take place in Ho Chi Minh City on April 18.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued Decision No.284/QD-TTg on February 24, 2014, designating April 21 as the Vietnam Book Day in order to encourage the reading culture among the public./.

People with disabilities creating for the community

 

Lê Huy Tích became a paraplegic after being in a traffic accident at the age of 29. Because of his need to get around everywhere by wheelchair, he came up with the idea of a wheelchair trailer for places a wheelchair simply can’t navigate. The useful initiative for people with disabilities received a prize at the 3rd Community Initiative Contest. 

It was almost the end for the 29-year-old. But Tich then created the trailers for wheelchairs, allowing the disabled to move more easily and to more places.

The wheelchair trailer is easy to use and is powered by environmentally-friendly lithium batteries. It makes the wheelchair move more easily on any terrain, even in places with steep slopes or on uneven roads. It is also cheap compared to imported models, so is trusted by many people with disabilities.

The 42-year-old director also wants to support people with disabilities to get jobs and create the conditions for them to integrate fully into society. In 2015, he founded the Hoa Binh Company for People with Disabilities, creating jobs for local people, nine of whom are disabled, with salaries of 5-9 million VND per month.

In 2020, Tich’s wheelchair trailer overcame more than 400 other initiatives to win second prize in the Community Initiative Contest. The energetic Tich’s greatest desire is to bring his products to more people, and to create opportunities and ensure equality for people with disabilities to thrive in life./.

Vietnam to receive over 5.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in two months

Vietnam will receive 5,657,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine in March and April, all made by AstraZeneca, according to the National Expanded Immunisation Programme.

Of the amount, 4,177,000 doses will be supplied by COVAX Facility via the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with 1,373,800 doses to arrive on March 25 and another 2,803,200 doses in April.

Meanwhile, 1.48 million doses bought by the Health Ministry via Vietnam Vaccine SJC (VNVC) will also be delivered in April.  

The COVAX Facility is the global pooled procurement mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines through which COVAX will ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines for all 190 participating economies, using an allocation framework formulated by WHO.

Vietnam received the first batch of 117,600 doses of COVID-19 on February 24, and launched its COVID-19 inoculation drive on March 8 morning, administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to medical workers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and northern Hai Duong province – the country’s biggest pandemic hotspot at present./.

Tien Giang's district launches measures to ensure production in dry season

Cai Lay district in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang is implementing a series of measures for natural disaster prevention in face of complicated weather developments, drought, and saline intrusion during the dry season.

Accordingly, it is investing more than 40.4 billion VND (1.7 million USD) in building in facilities for drought and saline intrusion prevention, with a focus on dredging 28 canals with a total length of over 56 km. In addition, the district has repaired damaged sluices and built 11 dams to store fresh water and prevent saltwater.

Localities in the district have been requested to build plans in response to drought, saltwater intrusion, and natural disasters, while local farmers must frequently get updated with related information to promptly protect their production.

Saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta will continue to increase in March and April, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting.

The peak of saltwater intrusion will occur during high tides on March 12 -16, March 27 – April 1, April 9 – 14 and April 24 – 30.

The delta, the country’s largest rice, fruit and seafood producer, is facing a higher than normal level of saltwater from the sea through river mouths in the ongoing dry season. However, it is not as severe as the level of the previous dry season./.

Raft of voluntary activities mark Youth Month

The Ho Chí Minh Communist Youth Union members is carrying out various activities nation-wide to mark Youth Month in March.

In HCM City its members have propagated COVID-19 prevention measures, environmental protection and ways to classify garbage since February 28.

At Lò Gốm apartment building in District 6, they and residents cleaned, painted walls, planted trees, and placed flower pots in corridors, handed over 2,000 masks to the residents and installed sanitizer bottles.  

In District 4’s Ward 1, they installed four solar lights in playgrounds.

At the housing area for workers of the South Sài Gòn Development Corporation in District 7, youth union members in the district and at the Tân Thuận Export Processing Zone and HCM City Youth Worker Support Centre planted trees and propagated COVID-19 preventive measures.

They also gave gifts to workers’ children.

Lê Thanh Vũ, director of the centre, said it would help young workers who have lost jobs or working hours due to the pandemic find other jobs.

Members at the HCM City Student Assistance Centre have set up Gia Sư Áo Xanh (Green- Shirt Tutors) teams to teach workers’ children and those from poor families at weekends this year.

Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh, a student at the HCM City University of Culture and member of the union who is in the teams, said they comprise university and college students.

Each team has one or two students and will teach two to three children.

Nguyễn Thị Uyên Trang, secretary of the youth union in the Mekong Delta province of Tiền Giang, said there are many programmes to ensure social welfare and encourage creativity and develop business skills in young people.    

They include repairing 90 kilometres of roads in rural areas, providing free health examination and treatment to locals, building or and upgrading 100 houses for poor people and beneficiaries of certain Government policies.  

Books, 1,000-litre containers and water bottles were donated to children, young people and others in Đồng Sơn Commune.

The union’s members in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang will build two bridges, 10 playgrounds for children and houses for 20 poor and disadvantaged people in rural areas.

The union will assist two start-ups set up by young people.

Besides communicating COVID-19 prevention measures, members in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng will also teach ethnic minority peoples in Lạc Dương District’s Đưng K’ Nớ commune techniques for raising new species of trees and animals to replace traditional ones and treating waste generated in the farming process.

In Đạ Tẻh District they have built a playground for children at Triệu Hải Commune and gave scholarships to 10 poor students.  

They worked with the Việt Nam Red Cross Society in the district to organise a blood donation programme, collecting 290 units.

To coincide with the launch of Youth Month, the central committee in Hà Nội started building a cultural and community house for the Lô Lô ethnic minority people in the northern province of Cao Bằng’s Bảo Lạc District.

At Hà Quảng District’s Lũng Nặm Commune, it has started to build toilets with used plastic bottles. 

It is also building a library with 2,000 books and newspapers at the Đức Long Secondary School in the province’s Hòa An District. The school has more than 200 ethnic minority students.

Quang Ninh aims to attract 10 million visitors in 2021 if COVID-19 is contained

The northern coastal province of Quang Ninh hopes to receive 10 million visitors this year if the COVID-19 pandemic is well contained.

Toward this goal, the Tourism Department has recommended to the provincial People’s Committee and local departments, agencies and localities the organization of around 150 events in different fields from culture-sport to tourism and trade so as to attract visitors and stimulate domestic demand for tourism and consumption.

Immediately after the latest outbreak of COVID-19 in the province was stamped out, the province reopened activities at tourist attractions and places of worship at 0:00 on March 2, while preventive measures are still in place. 

Activities at Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, have also been resumed. 

However, the sites are temporarily only open to those who are living and working in the province. 

From March 3-7, local tourism and service establishments in Quang Ninh served around 13,200 visitors, with more than 2,800 staying overnight.

According to statistics of the Tourism Department, the number of visitors to Quang Ninh in the first quarter stood at around 1 million, equivalent to just 57 percent of the same period last year and 23 percent of the figure in the first quarter of 2019.

To support tourism firms, Quang Ninh has launched four promotion packages worth billions of VND in an effort to maintain incentives for the sector, and offer ticket discounts at numerous famous tourist destinations since last year.

It has also worked to devise new products and hosted various cultural, sports and tourism events, as well as introduced tourism promotions.

HCM City should embrace AI technologies: experts

HCM City must focus on research and development of artificial intelligence, especially training human resources in AI, experts have said.

Dương Anh Đức, vice chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the aim was to promote R&D in AI applications in the next five years.

AI is increasingly used in various fields like transportation, public security, production, finance, and e-commerce. 

The city hopes to annually increase by 20 per cent the number of scientific works, AI patents and AI applications, and to invite leading foreign AI experts to work in the city.

While AI technologies are used in many sectors in the city, research and training are weak compared to other places in the world, and it also lacks AI experts, scientists and policymakers, according to the official. 

According to a master plan for developing IT human resources, Việt Nam needs one million workers in the field but only 600,000 IT students are trained at 400 higher educational institutes and eight major IT training centres as of the end of last year.

Statistics from the Institute of Information Technology Strategy show 72 per cent of IT students lack practical experience while 42 per cent are weak in team work. Only 15 per cent of IT graduates meet their employers’ requirements and do not need much further training.

The country has more than 700 IT companies, 220 of them foreign-owned, mostly based in major cities or software parks. 

Despite the huge likely demand for AI experts in future, the field has attracted little attention in the country, and no university offers comprehensive courses in it.

Most curriculums only focus on software. 

Experts said the city should catch up with global AI trends by investing in training and building an open-source database. 

It should establish AI departments at universities and develop new courses, they said. 

It should encourage businesses to embrace AI to enhance their competitiveness, and solicit investment in and promote AI products made locally, they said.

It should set up AI hubs that include training centres connected with one another through the city’s data centre and infrastructure, they added.

Vũ Hải Quân, director of the Việt Nam National University of HCM City, said the city should develop an AI research and training team, build digital infrastructure, offer incentives to encourage enterprises to use AI, and improve human resources in AI.

Linkages between the state, businesses, scientists, and investors should also be promoted, he said.

The city should focus on developing start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field, he added.

Kon Tum border guards adopt orphaned children

The border guards of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum have adopted and helped 75 children in extremely difficult situations.

Two sisters, Y Lỹ, 12 and Y Lẫy, 14, living in Đăk Xú Commune, Ngọc Hồi District, became orphans after their parents were swept away by flash floods and buried in August 2019.

After getting approval from Kon Tum Province’s Border Guard Command, the communal border guards adopted them.

These were two out of 75 children helped by the programme 'Adopted children of the Border Guard' launched by the provincial Border Guard Command.

The first thing local border guards did was, together with social organisations, build a house for the two sisters so they had a secure place to study.

The communal border guard station, the Việt Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s branch in Kon Tum and the local Women's Union raised money and helped build a house for the two sisters.

After three months of construction, border guards completed the construction of a 70-sq.m house for the two sisters in December 2019.

The two sisters have been able to focus on their studies and helping others in the village thanks to the support from the border guard soldiers.

A Tú, a 50-year-old man in Đăk Xú Commune, said although Y Lỹ was young, she often helped her neighbours.

“My family loves her and considers her as a grandchild in the family. We are ready to support the two sisters at any time,” A Tú said.

Khả Kham Thiệu, a soldier of the Đăk Xú Communal Border Guard, said besides the main task of guarding the border area, the soldiers regularly go to the two sisters’ home to teach the children about cooking and studying.

“The two sisters consider Captain Khả Khâm Thiệu as their father,” A Tú said.

Khả Khêm Thiệu said Y Lỹ always tried her best to study and worked hard to absorb the lessons.

“I regularly study books to be able to teach more for Y Lỹ at home, helping her to better understand the lessons in class,” he said.

“Her homeroom teacher also comments that she has made a lot of progress in studying and her achievements have improved, especially her behaviour is always very good."

Y Lỹ said that since her parents died, the border guards have acted as her uncles and have helped take care of her and her older sister.

“I will try to study and strive to become a good child, a good student, a useful person for society to deserve their nurturing merit,” she said.

Major Nguyễn Đình Thành, head of the communal Border Guard Station, said the model 'Adopted Children of the Border Guard' has been a success.

“At the same time, it helps the officers and soldiers build a friendly and close image with local people. It makes a great contribution to the work of protecting and maintaining the sovereignty of border security, ensuring the security - politics situation in the region," he said.

“Through the programme, needy children have received love from the soldiers and have the opportunity to learn to become useful people for society," he added.

Colonel Phạm Cảnh Toàn, Deputy head of Kon Tum Provincial Border Guard said: “We see that the adoption of children in difficult circumstances is to provide more motivation and help them to strive in their future life.”

“The programme is also an opportunity for us to link between the Party committees, local authorities and the masses, and do well in the mobilisation of local people."

"The provincial Border Guard Command will continue to promote and replicate the programme to help and foster students in difficult circumstances to become useful people for society," Toàn said.

Da Nang city plans to host annual Vietnam-RoK festival

The central city of Da Nang is planning to host an annual Vietnam-Republic of Korea (RoK) festival to boost cultural exchanges, investment promotions and development of tourism, trade, health care and education, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Trung Chinh has said.

During a reception for Korean General Consul in Da Nang Ahn Min-sik on March 9, Chinh said that the two countries share various cultural similarities and Da Nang has emerged as a favourite destination for Korean tourists.

He expressed his gratitude for support from the Korean Consulate General, firms and citizens in Da Nang over the past time, especially during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the pandemic has been brought under control in Da Nang, local authorities are exerting efforts to address bottlenecks for businesses and speed up administrative procedure reforms so as to foster the city’s economic recovery and development, he said.

In the coming time, the municipal administration will strive to create favourable conditions for the Korean Consul General, Consulate General, businesses and citizens to work, reside and travel to the city, the official added.

Chinh voiced his hope that the Korean side will further support the building of incubators, start-up and innovation centres, as well as foster cooperation in high tech agriculture and herbal cultivation; and human resource development and labour exports.

He also hoped the RoK will continue to promote Da Nang’s image as a safe, clean and green and beautiful destination for Koreans once the pandemic is controlled.

For his part, the Korean diplomat said over 90 percent out of about 8,000 Korean investors and firms in Vietnam are operating in the northern and southern regions. Therefore, the Korean government is eager to foster development and cooperation in Vietnam’s central region and Da Nang city in particular, he said.

In the coming time, the Korean Consulate General will work with Da Nang city in the fields of investment promotion, IT training, smart city building and tourism in the post-pandemic period, he said.

The RoK is considering holding a RoK-Vietnam business conference in Da Nang this year, in the format of either in-person or online, Ahn said, expressing his hope that the central city will devise the content of the planned Vietnam-RoK festival to turn it into an annual cultural exchange event./.

Quang Ngai: Storm-resilient housing to be built for ten poor families

Nearly 1 billion VND (43,400 USD) has been earmarked to build storm-resilient housing for poor and vulnerable households on Ly Son Island in the central province of Quang Ngai as part of a UNDP-funded project.

The Quang Ngai Red Cross Society is coordinating with the island district’s People’s Committee and relevant authorities to complete the necessary procedures for the construction, the society’s president Nguyen Hoang Hiep said on March 9.

Ten selected poor, near-poor, and vulnerable households on the island will receive around 4,200 USD each to build a storm-resilient house.

The provincial Department of Construction is developing suitable designs for the houses, with each family’s circumstances and local weather conditions taken into account, Hiep said, adding that construction is scheduled to begin sometime this month and be completed in May, so the households will have safe shelter before this year’s rainy season.

As Ly Son is particularly vulnerable to storms, it is important to build storm-resilient housing for impoverished local households, said Vo Minh Thanh, president of the Ly Son Red Cross Society.

The houses will be a major source of motivation for the families, he added, helping them overcome the hardships and settle down.

In addition to Ly Son, the UNDP has provided over 3.1 billion VND to repair and renovate 673 houses in coastal districts of Quang Ngai./.

Hai Phong city lifts lockdown of two last locations

The northern port city of Hai Phong has removed the 14-day lockdown for the last two locations, namely hamlet 4 of Loi Dong village, Thuy Nguyen district and Block 112 of Du Hang worker's residential area, Du Hang ward, Le Chan district from midnight on March 9.

Previously, a 26-year-old female nurse, who worked at the city’s Transport Hospital tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 after the city conducted tests for medical staff on February 21. The nurse lives in hamlet 4 of Loi Dong village.

Also the same day, the city’s Preventive Medicine Centre took samples of a male nurse, 28, who worked at the city’s Transport Hospital. The sample was positive for SARS-CoV-2. He lives in Block 112, Da Hang ward, Le Chan district.

Therefore, the areas, where the two patients live, were locked down for 14 days.

According to a report by the city’s health department, the two patients tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 and have been under active treatment now.

A total of 2,557 samples of people, who directly contacted the two patients, already tested negative three times, the report said.

On March 8 afternoon, the city’s administration also removed the lockdown of the city’s Transport Hospital, where the two patients worked./.

Vietnam nominated for Asia’s Best Golf Destination 2021 award

Vietnam has been nominated for the Asia’s Best Golf Destination 2021 award, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) said on March 9, calling on people and tourists to vote for the country.

It noted that votes can be cast on the website www.worldgolfawards.com from now until September 1.

Support from people and tourists will give Vietnam a chance to continue promoting itself as a hospitable country welcoming visitors from far and wide with open arms. In particular, Vietnam has been fostering sports tourism as part of efforts to boost post-pandemic tourism recovery, according to the VNAT.

Vietnam was recognised as the World’s Best Gold Destination in 2019 and Asia’s Best Golf Destination for four straight years, from 2017 to 2020.

Tourism experts said golf tourism is highly potential in Vietnam, and that unlike ordinary visitors, golf travellers will return to previous destinations for many times and they are capable of spending much on high-end hotel and restaurant services.

Together with the development of tourism infrastructure, the golf course system in Vietnam has received big investment in recent years with high quality and beautiful landscape.

The Asia’s Best Golf Destination award is part of the World Golf Awards, held annually since 2014 and viewed as the most prestigious awards in the golf tourism industry./.

Book on 70-year Vietnam-Russia relations debuts

 

A book featuring 70-year Vietnam-Russia relations compiled by Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh was publicly introduced at a ceremony held by the embassy in Moscow recently.
 
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Ngo Duc Manh shared the book is a gift of gratitude for leaders, people, and readers of the two countries. It’s also a wish of the ambassador to bolster the special bond of Vietnam and Russia.

Attending the ceremony were representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federation Council, State Duma, administrations of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and other localities, as well as local scholars, people and Vietnamese expatriates./.

New Zealand supports pandemic-hit informal female workers in central Vietnam

The Embassy of New Zealand and ActionAid Vietnam will together provide support for women workers in informal sectors in central Da Nang City and Thua Thien-Hue province under a new partnership.

The New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam will provide 50,000 NZD (approx. 35,600 USD) to the project, which aims to reach more than 350 women workers in informal employment as street vendors, junk collectors, or house helpers, over the next three months.

Underscoring the importance of this project in the larger programme of support by New Zealand to Vietnam, New Zealand Chargé d'Affaires Joseph Mayhew said: “This is a practical initiative to help ease the economic impacts of COVID-19 and strengthen the resilience of more than 350 women workers, and their families, in Da Nang and Hue’s informal sectors.”

“I believe that supporting women workers in sectors that are hardest hit by the pandemic is a vital component of robust, inclusive, and equitable recovery,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Vietnam's tourism industry, with Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue, the two major international tourism hubs particularly affected. The project includes training on household economic literacy and management, women’s rights and child nutrition. The financial support can be used to purchase food, living essentials or small livelihood options.

According to ActionAid Vietnam’s recent research, more than 90 percent of the tourism sector’s workers lost employment and income due to COVID-19. In Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue, almost 90,000 people either became unemployed or suffered from greatly reduced income. Only 22 percent of the surveyed workers currently have access to the government’s 62-trillion-VND support package.

“This project is one way to help women workers become more visible in the public eye, and at the same time trying to set up a practical model where support can be delivered to the target groups and individuals in an efficient and transparent manner,” said Hoang Phuong Thao, Country Director of ActionAid Vietnam. “We want to contribute to the commitments of Vietnam and New Zealand, of Leaving No One Behind in the struggles to overcome COVID-19.”/.

Dozens of illegal immigrants found in border provinces

Police in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang have detected tens of Chinese citizens illegally entering Vietnam.

The provincial steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control said on March 8 that 34 illegal Chinese immigrants had been sent to concentrated quarantine facilities and tested for COVID-19. Further investigation and contact tracing are underway.

Local authorities and residents were asked to stay vigilant and follow pandemic preventive measures.

Earlier on March 4 and 7, police in Chau Doc city found automobiles carrying seven and 13 Chinese nationals, respectively, who were attempting to leave for Cambodia.

Two vehicles carrying 14 Chinese people en route from Chau Doc city to Ho Chi Minh City were detected on March 6. The passengers’ travel history is being further investigated.

Meanwhile, police of the northern border province of Cao Bang on March 8 said that 22 illegal Chinese immigrants were recently brought to quarantine centres over COVID-19 concerns.

The immigrants were caught in the province’s Trung Khanh district and failed to show legal immigration documents./.

Can Tho promotes green tourism at Cái Răng Floating Market

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta city of Cần Thơ has launched  a project on green tourism at the Cái Răng Floating Market, one of the most-visited destinations in the region.

The city has asked the Cái Răng District’s People’s Committee to collect statistics on households living on the floating market and conduct research on their needs for clean water, power, restrooms, and other essential needs to improve their living standards.

District authorities also need to develop sustainable tourism solutions, such as regular collection of trash on the river and improvement of public awareness about environmental protection, food hygiene and safety, and green tourism.

In addition, the district should create jobs involved in tourist activities at the floating market.

Cần Thơ has asked the city’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to work with the city’s Bank for Social Policies to offer soft loans for households doing business at the floating market.

The Department of Transport has been asked to ensure safety and order at harbours in Ninh Kiều and Cái Răng districts, while the Police Department will rearrange the mooring system for boats to ensure safety and order on waterways.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is cooperating with the departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Industry and Trade on trade promotions to drive the "One Commune, One Product" product sales at the floating market.

The work will give local craft villages and farmers opportunities to introduce their products to tourists.

The Cái Răng Floating Market began over 100 years ago as a place to sell agricultural products and local cuisine.

Apart from selling fruits and vegetables from the city, it also offers special farm products from neighbouring provinces.

The region’s foods, specialties and handicraft products are also sold at the market.

It is open every day from 4am to 9am, and attracts up to 500 boats visiting the kilometre-long market during holidays and festivals.

The market was recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2016. 

HCM City health sector to adopt latest medical technology

The health sector in HCM City needs to adopt new healthcare technology solutions and embrace digital transformation, a city leader has said.

“With the heavy workloads in healthcare systems, the adoption of cutting-edge technologies will cut costs and workload for health care providers as well as increase efficiency,” said Dương Anh Đức, deputy chairman of the city’s People’s Committee.

The city is encouraging the mainstreaming of technology solutions to improve health service delivery, Đức said at a recent meeting with the city’s health sector.

The health sector must also focus on the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the safety of public health but also economic growth, he said.

Tăng Chí Thượng, deputy director of the city’s Department of Health, said the city’s health sector was controlling the epidemic, improving the quality of healthcare services, and reducing patient overload at hospitals.

The healthcare sector has set 16 specific goals, including 20.2 physicians per 10,000 people and 42 beds per 10,000 people.

It plans to have electronic medical records for 80 per cent of its population and 25 per cent of health stations operating as family medicine clinics.

It is streamlining administrative procedures at hospitals and aiming for higher levels of patient satisfaction, with the goal of 91 per cent, Thượng said.

It has also asked the city’s People’s Committee to allocate capital to buy medical devices and equipment for three district-level general hospitals in Củ Chi, Hóc Môn and Thủ Đức districts.

The healthcare sector has petitioned the city to provide land for the building of Thủ Đức City Hospital, Psychiatric Hospital, Traumatology and Orthopaedics Hospital, and 115 Emergency Centre. 

Red Spring Festival blood donation drive surpasses target

The 14th Red Spring Festival, the largest blood donation drive in the country, collected more than 8,300 blood units during one week from March 1, according to the organising board.

The result topped the initial target of 5,000 units by 60 per cent.

The drive, launched by the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT), together with the Hanoi Youth Association for Blood Donation and the Hanoi Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, aimed to address blood shortages in hospitals after the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the festival, head of the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) Bạch Quốc Khánh said the festival helped ease blood shortages after Tết and contributed to strengthening awareness about blood donations.

This year, due to the impacts of COVID-19, the festival was held at four venues, including at the NIHBT.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a steep decline in the number of donors and blood supply for treatment and emergency, said Chairman of the Hanoi Youth Association for Blood Donation Trịnh Xuân Thủy.

The organising board had made thorough preparations to welcome donors so as to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control, he added.

The festival, first launched in 2008, has collected in excess of 93,000 blood units in total.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park tops hospitable destination list

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in the central province of Quang Binh leads the way in terms of the most hospitable destinations nationwide, according to the annual Traveler Review Awards recently announced by travel website Booking.com.

This year’s awards have been based on more than 130 million reviews completed by tourists who previously rented rooms in specific destinations.

Coming in behind Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is Hoi An city in Quang Nam province, followed by Ninh Binh province, Sa Pa town in Lao Cai province, and Mai Chau district in Son La province.

The Traveler Review Awards is part of renowned travel website Booking.com and is held with the aim of recognising the hospitality of each location and is based on the ratings given by travelers following their vacation. 

This comes as Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was ranked 15th position in a list of the most popular national parks as voted on by TripAdvisor last year.

Hanoi FC named among ASEAN clubs with highest market value

As last season’s runners-up in the V.League 1, Hanoi FC have been listed among the top 10 clubs in ASEAN with the highest market value this year, according to renowned football statistics site Transfermarkt.

The side from the capital have been placed 10th in the list.

The rankings are based on the market value of footballers from each club. Hanoi FC is the only Vietnamese club to have a high number of valuable international players in their squad. Indeed, the team feature an array of famous names, including Van Quyet, Quang Hai, Hung Dung, Duy Manh, Dinh Trong, Thanh Chung, and Doan Van Hau.

Transfermarkt states that the playing staff of Hanoi FC have an overall market value of EUR4.35 million.

Elsewhere, Buriram United FC of Thailand top the list with a market value of EUR6.9 million, followed by Johor Darul Ta’zim of Malaysia in second with a value of EUR6.73 million.

The pair are followed by four other clubs from Thai League, including Port FC with EUR6.33 million, Pathum United with EUR6.18 million, Bangkok United with EUR6 million, and Muangthong United with EUR5.03 million.

National Volleyball Championship to start on April 11

The 2021 PV Gas National Volleyball Championship is due to get underway on April 11, with the competition involving the participation of five men’s and five women’s teams from across the country.

The national tournament had originally been scheduled to take place between March 17 and March 21, with the event being postponed due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the Volleyball Federation of Vietnam (VFV).

The opening round is set to get underway in Hanoi and the northern province of Quang Ninh between April 11 and April 15 with the aim of seeking talents who can play for the Vietnamese national volleyball team ahead of upcoming international tournaments.

Moving forward, the nation’s leading volleyballers are poised to gather in preparation for the 31st Southeast Asian Games participating in the second round of the PV Gas tournament which is planned to take place later this year.

The draw to decide which teams will make up the different groups were held in Hanoi on March 5.

The teams will then compete in a round-robin format in order to select the four best-performing teams to progress to the second round, with the final round slated to transpire later this year.

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/VIR/SGT/Nhan Dan/Hanoitimes