Photo: VTC

Covid-19: Nearly 86,000 new infections, 41 deaths recorded

The Ministry of Health (MoH) announced 85,765 new coronavirus infections in Vietnam on March 30, while Covid-19 related deaths fell to 41 during the day. As many as 85,759 cases were locally acquired, including 62,366 cases documented in the community. Six cases tested positive upon returning from overseas, and the remainder were detected in the lockdown or isolation areas.

Hanoi capital took the lead with 8,141 fresh cases, followed by Bac Giang, Nghe An, Phu Tho, Dak Lak, Yen Bai, and Lao Cai which recorded more than 3,000 new cases each.

Official data from the MoH show on average 97,357 cases were uncovered daily during the past week. The same day, the ministry announced an additional 114,685 recoveries and 41 more deaths nationwide.

Photo: VNA

About 3.4 million laborers to benefit from the housing rent support policy

Some 3.4 million laborers would benefit from the housing rent support policy that has been recently approved by the Prime Minister, heard a press conference in Hanoi on March 30. Accordingly, two groups will receive support, laborers working in enterprises and those returning to the labor market, at the rate of VND 500,000 (US$ 21.7) per person each month and VND 1,000,000 (US$ 43)per person each month, respectively.

Employers need to compile lists of employees requesting support based on the employee’s application and publicly post the lists at the workplaces for at least three working days. Employers are responsible for the accuracy of employee information. Employers must send the lists to social insurance agencies to confirm that employees included are participating in social insurance (the processing time is two days).

They then submit a request for support to the district-level People’s Committee for appraisal and then submit to the provincial-level People’s Committee to issue a decision approving the lists, funding for support, and directing the payment of support. The processing time of district-level and provincial-level People’s Committees is two days each. Employers must then make payment to employees within two working days from the date of receipt of the support fund.

MoLISA Deputy Minister said Le Van Thanh said around 2.2 million laborers left southern key economic localities for their hometowns due to the pandemic, leading to a labor shortage at industrial parks, processing zones, and major economic regions. The policy, therefore, is significant to production recovery in the new situation, he said, noting that from March 31, the ministry will issue a document providing detailed guidelines on the implementation of the policy.

Photo: Dan Toc & Phat Trien

Socio-economic performance brisk in quarter 1 with Covid-19 under control

Thanks to the safe, flexible adaptation and effective control of Covid-19, the labor market in the first quarter of the year has shown signs of improvement, with the number of employed people and their average monthly income seeing an increase compared to the same period from last year.

Nguyen Thi Huong, general director of the GSO, said that both the unemployment and underemployment rates in the working-age declined compared to the previous quarter despite still being higher than the same period last year, showing a gradual fall.

Specifically, the country's labor force aged 15 and over the first quarter of the year stood at an estimated 51.2 million people, an increase of more than 441,000 people compared to the previous quarter and a rise of roughly 159,000 compared to the same period from last year. The labor force participation rate was at 68.1%, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter and a drop of 0.6 percentage points from last year's corresponding period. Employed laborers aged 15 were estimated to be at 50 million people, an increase of 132.2 thousand people over the same period last year.

During the review period, people's lives continued to face plenty of difficulties due to the strong outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, greater attention at all levels was given to social security work in a bid to help people ensure their lives and jobs.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 30): Recoveries Hits Record Figure The national tally reached 9,386,489. By March 28, the country had injected 205,495,812 doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 29): Infections on Downward Trajectory On average the daily number of fresh infections recorded in Vietnam in the past seven days remains high at 109,424 cases.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 27): Covid-19 Caseload Continues to See Downward Trend By the end of March 25, more than 204 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered nationwide.