Assistance Pours In For Ho Chi Minh City Hotspot

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This USD 5,000 donation provides personal protection gear for 60 medical workers at the highest risk of infection for a month. Source: VinaCapital Foundation

Ho Chi Minh City is now the country's current largest hotspot with 710 new cases detected during 24 hours to 6pm on July 6. Understand the challenges faced the frontline healthcare workers, the VinaCapital Foundation (VCF) recently donated 1,174 complete critically needed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits to the city Children’s Hospital.

The Covid-19 situation is developing fast and complicatedly in HCM City and some nearby southeastern provinces, which are forecast to record more infections in the time ahead as the coronavirus has been present in many places such as factories, industrial parks, and markets for a long time, said Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long.

The period of time to witness 1,000 new infections has been shortened faster. It took HCM City nearly one month to report the first 1,000 cases, but the figure surpassed 4,000 within half a month, from June 16 to 30, VNA quoted Long.

This worst-ever Covid-19 wave has put intense pressure on the healthcare sector of the entire country including HCM City’s hospital system.

In response to the nationwide campaign to fight the pandemic, and as public hospital budgets are strained to meet the demands of ever-growing patients, VinaCapital Foundation sends this essential equipment to HCM City Children’s Hospital to help healthcare workers be better protected.

Sixty HCM City Children’s Hospital doctors teamed up together and divided into three groups of 15 healthcare workers each to take turns treating little Covid-19 patients for three working shifts per day. On average, it requires 45 PPE per day for this special high-risk infection group. Therefore, this USD 5,000 donation will provide personal protection gears for these 60 specialists for a month.

1,259 kits will be distributes to HCM City's needy women. Source: UNFPA Vietnam

Covid-19 also worsened the already difficult situation for women at risk of gender-based violence. To support women in times of crisis, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Vietnam is providing 5,100 dignity kits to be distributed to quarantine and/or lockdown locations of Vietnam.

Delivering the dignity kits was a challenge, as Covid-19 cases surged in HCM City, and social distancing policies were enacted for the whole city. Thanks to the great efforts of the City Farmer's Union staff, needy women have received timely support.

The dignity kits comprise basic items that women and girls need to protect themselves and maintain hygiene, respect, and dignity in the face of crisis. In addition, dignity kits include information on gender-based violence, such as what it is, and how to deal with it, and it also includes instructions to link women to available support services.

Dignity kits are a signature product of UNFPA's comprehensive package of humanitarian assistance, and this kits, worth USD 140,000, were jointly raised by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam.

Mikio Kesagayama, chairman of the board at Tokyo International Communication Committee (left) and Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam. Source: VNA

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan on July 6 received donations of approximately VND 1.3 billion for the country’s Covid-19 vaccine fund from various Japanese trade unions and companies where Vietnamese interns are working.

Addressing the handover ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam highlighted the valuable support given by Japanese companies and Vietnamese individuals working in the East Asian country to the nation’s vaccine fund and Vietnamese trainees during the pandemic period.

According to VOV, Mikio Kesagayama, chairman of the board at Tokyo International Communication Committee (TICC), expressed his joy at supporting the Vietnamese vaccine fund, hoping that the country will have sufficient vaccine doses to inoculate its citizens, while Vietnamese trainees will be able to return to work in Japan as soon as possible.

Nanba Akito, representative of the Institute of Global Human Resource Development based in Okayama prefecture, showed desire for Japan’s assistance to Vietnam's vaccine fund to help the country contain the pandemic in a fast manner so interns can travel easily between the two countries.

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