Photo: VGP

Additional 4,045 Covid-19 cases recorded on October 24

The Ministry of Health announced 4,045 new infections of Covid-19, on October 24, along with 53 Covid-19 related deaths. Among these new cases, 17 were imported and 4,028 were local transmissions. Of these, 1,599 were detected in the community.

Ho Chi Minh City remained the locality with the highest number of infections of 966, an increase of 217 cases compared to the previous day’s figure. It was followed by Binh Duong province with 524 cases and Dong Nai province with 429. The capital city of Hanoi recorded 14 new cases in the past 24 hours. The 53 Covid-related deaths were in HCM City (30), Binh Duong (12), Dong Nai (5), Long An (2), An Giang (2), Tay Ninh (1), and Bac Lieu (1). The country’s death toll is now 21,673.

Photo: Bao Dak Lak

Vietnam receives 1.3 million more Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses from US

Another shipment of 1,316,250 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine touched down at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on October 24 evening, bringing the total Covid-19 vaccines donated by the US to Vietnam to 10.8 million doses.

This is in addition to the 9.5 million doses which the US has already donated to Vietnam through the COVAX Facility to assist the nation in its fight against Covid-19, according to the US Embassy in Vietnam. These doses were shipped from Belgium to Vietnam, while the shipment earlier this month came directly from the Pfizer manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Most recently, the US delivered nearly 400,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to Vietnam on October 13. From October 7 to October 13 alone, Vietnam received an additional 1.99 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses donated by the US through the COVAX vaccine distribution mechanism. The US has so far donated vaccines to more than 100 countries and territories globally, becoming the world's largest donor of Covid-19 vaccines.

Photo: Nhan Dan

Economic growth from Covid-19 depends on vaccine rollout

Economic growth after the Covid-19 pandemic will largely depend on the vaccine rollout, according to experts. They said that economic growth would also depend on the effectiveness and side effects of disease prevention measures and financial support packages. They said bad debts continued to be accumulated and could sharply increase to exceed the tolerance threshold of businesses. This is a potential financial risk in the post-pandemic economy.

Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Centre for Economic and Strategic Studies (VESS), said because of the slow pace of vaccination, Vietnam missed the beat of the world economy’s recovery in 2021. This might lead to the loss of relative advantage. Vietnam’s vaccine rollout was relatively slow compared to other countries.

Pham The Anh, Head of the Macroeconomics Department under the National Economics University, said the market demand had worsened due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and goods circulation had also been severely affected. It was forecast that by the end of this year, the price of foodstuffs might arise due to difficulties in supply.

In order to ensure the country’s economic growth in the high growth scenario, the Government should speed up vaccination campaigns in cities and provinces and ensure smooth circulation of goods as well as work out fiscal packages for businesses and assist unemployed workers. Provincial authorities are also required to offer jobs for those who had fled Ho Chi Minh City and nearby provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Binh Phuoc several months ago due to the fourth Covid-19 wave that emerged in the country in late April.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (October 24): Daily Count Falls To Nearly 3,400 Over 24 Hours Nearly 72 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, with 20.7 million people getting their second shot.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (October 23): Daily Count Rises Nearly 4,000 As of 6 pm on October 22, Vietnam has documented 881,522 Covid-19 cases since the start of the first outbreak in January 2020, ranking 40th ...

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (October 21): Daily Caseload Rises To 3,646, Over 1,700 Recover More than 67 million doses of vaccines have been administered so far in the country. Over 19 million people have fully received two jabs.