Vietnam News Today (August 10): Hanoi to Conduct Covid Testing for 300,000 Residents in High-risk Areas
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	Vietnam News Today (August 8): Vietnam Approves Remdesivir for Covid Treatment

Vietnam will test third Covid-19 vaccine on humans soon. Photo: VOV

Vietnam to test new ARCT-154 vaccine against Covid-19 shortly

Vietnam is going to recruit volunteers for clinical trials of ARCT-154 vaccine to see if it is effective against the mutated strain of the Delta variant which was first identified in India and has spread to more than 100 countries worldwide.

The Ministry of Health made the announcement on August 9 after approving a proposal on human clinical trials of the vaccine by VinBioCare, an affiliate of Vingroup, a leading multisectoral conglomerate of Vietnam.

VinBioCare and Arcturus Therapeutics medicines biotechnology company of the US entered a partnership in early August 2021 to conduct clinical trials of ARCT-154 Covid-19 vaccine, developed based on Arcturus’ STARR mRNA technology, in Vietnam, cited VOV.

Under the agreement, the US firm will grant permission for VinBioCare to produce Covid-19 vaccine named VBC-COV19-154, which targets new variants of the coronavirus such as Delta and Alpha.

Vingroup will invest more than US$200 million in a production line in Hanoi-based Hoa Lac Hi-Teck Park which is designed to produce 200 million doses of the vaccine per year, with the first batch set to be rolled out in early 2022.

The testing will be carried out in three phases on adult volunteers at Hanoi Medical University, Ho Chi Minh city Pasteur Institute and Vietnam Military Medical University. It aims to assess the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of the SARS-CoV-2 self-amplifying mRNA vaccine, and will enrol up to 21,000 participants across the three phases, with 20,000 in Phase 3.

ARCT-154 is the third Covid-19 vaccine that has been approved for human clinical trials in Vietnam.

The first vaccine, Nano Covax, is entering the third phase of the trials, and the second vaccine, Covivac, is in the second phase.

Nanogen that develops Nano Covax, has requested the Ministry of Health to approve its vaccine for emergency use in Vietnam following initial evaluation reports that show the vaccine is approximately 90% effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Made-in-Vietnam Vipdervir drug proves effective against SARS-CoV-2: Scientists

The Ministry of Health announced on August 10 Vietnamese scientists have successfully produced antiviral medication Vipdervir which proves to be safe and effective in inhibiting the growth of SARS-CoV-2.

Vipdervir is extracted and synthesized from medicinal herbs which are completely available in Vietnam, said Assoc. Prof. & Dr. Le Quang Huan, head of the research team from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).

The drug can prevent the virus from sticking to the host cell, making it impossible to penetrate into the host cell, according to the researcher. It can also inhibit the virus from multiplying in the cell, and can activate immune cells so that they recognize, block and eliminate virions.

Vipdervir is said to support Covid-19 treatment by inhibiting the growth of SARS-CoV-2. Photo: VAST

Researchers have tested Vipdervir on rabbits and found that the drug is safe and inhibits the growth of H5N1 and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, reported VOV.

On August 7, 2021, the Ethics Council under the Ministry of Health unanimously approved the researchers’ scheme to carry out human clinical trials of the Vipdervir pills at Hanoi-based Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

According to Assoc. Prof. & Dr. Chu Hoang Ha, Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Vipdervir is the first Covid-19 drug made of medicinal herbs that has been licensed for clinical trials in Vietnam.

He said the drug needs further research and clinical trials in order to evaluate its effectiveness in Covid-19 treatment before official use.

“We are interested in how to cut short the clinical trial time so that the drug can be put into use soon given the complicated development of the pandemic at present,” Ha said.

Along with Vipdervir, the Institute of Chemistry under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology has successfully researched a new method of synthesizing Favipiravir in the laboratory.

Unlike much-sought-after Remdesivir, Favipiravir is administered orally and has been approved for use in Italy, Japan, Russia and some other countries.

HCM city speeds up vaccinations to reach 7 million people by end of August

HCM city will continue to speed up vaccinations to 250,000-300,000 doses a day to administer at least one jab to 100 per cent of its population aged 18 years old and above by the end of this month, city authorities have said.

It is currently administering around 220,000-250,000 doses a day, reported VNS.

A local resident in HCM city is vaccinated against Covid-19. Photo: VNA/VNS

Speaking at a press meeting on Tuesday (August 10), deputy director of the city’s Department of Health Nguyen Hoai Nam, said that with 250,000-300,000 doses of vaccines administered per day, the city would use up the remaining 913,204 doses by August 12, including 591,900 doses allocated by the Ministry of Health on Monday (August 9).

The city People’s Committee has asked the Ministry of Health to allocate an additional 5.5 million doses to fulfil the target of all of its residents aged 18 years old and above, or 7 million people, vaccinated by month end.

The city received more than 4.1 million vaccine doses between March 8 and August 9 and has administered more than 3.4 million doses, according to a report released by the city’s Department of Health on Monday.

Five postal companies provide 14,600 tons of essential goods to localities

Reports from five postal companies showed that 14,584 tons of essential goods were provided to localities throughout the country as of August 7, an increase of 11 percent over the day before.

According to the taskforce on supporting farming households to enter e-commerce sites and transport of essential goods to cities/provinces under social distancing, as of the end of August 7, postal companies had set up 3,735 points of essential goods distribution.

The postal companies also transported more than 3,880 tons of essential goods as per the request of local authorities.

According to MIC, in addition to the two large postal companies Vietnam Post and Viettel Post which have been delivering essential goods in localities since mid-July, there are three newcomers – Giao hang nhanh, Giao hang tiet kiem and Netco, cited VNN.

Photo: VNN

In addition to ensuring the uninterrupted supply of goods in the capital city during social distancing days, postal companies under the coordination of MIC also support the consumption of harvested farm produce in 19 cities and provinces in the south.

On August 5, MIC asked the Bac Lieu Department of Culture, Information, Sports and Tourism and the departments of information and communications of 18 southern provinces and cities to join forces with relevant agencies to create favorable conditions for Vietnam Post and Viettel Post to promote consumption of local products.

The departments are responsible for instructing local units of the two companies to build up detailed plans on farm produce consumption. They need to keep a close watch, and remove difficulties to help consume the registered produce via e-commerce sites and other distribution channels.

At an online meeting on July 30 on consumption of farm produce via e-commerce, MIC Deputy Minister Pham Anh Tuan said a plan was needed to ensure the sufficient supply of essential goods to the cities/provinces under social distancing and help farmers bring their produce to e-commerce sites.

Vietnam Post told VietNamNet that it was helping specialties of southern provinces, such as Dong Thap and An Giang longan and Long An dragon fruit and lemon. More than 3,000 farming households in the south have entered the Postmart e-commerce site.

Meanwhile, Voso, run by Viettel Post, has gathered 3,000 stalls of farming houses from 19 southern provinces.

The postal company has prioritized prestigious farming households which have high-quality specialties and has helped them open stalls on Voso.

Hanoi among world's five best cities for beer lovers

Hanoi, famous for its iconic lager (bia hoi), was one of the top five beer destinations in the world endorsed by global travelers of online travel agency Booking.com.

Hanoi, home to one of the first breweries in Vietnam under French colonial rule in the late nineteenth century, is a must-visit beer paradise, VNA reported, citing U.S.-based Booking.com.

The first brewery in Hanoi opened in the 1890s. After the Hanoi beer brewing factory was set up, beer culture caught on quickly. Bia hoi, roughly translated as fresh beer, is locally-brewed and made fresh every day, containing only 3 percent alcohol.

Foreign tourists sit at a beer stall in Ta Hien-Luong Ngoc Quyen intersection in Hanoi, 2019. Photo: VnExpress

According to Booking.com, the intersection of Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen streets in Hanoi's Old Quarter, dubbed a 'beer hub," is a famous address to enjoy ice-cold glasses of bia hoi on plastic chairs, which has become part of Hanoi culture.

The area is home to dozens of bars, restaurants and street beer stalls, which were often fully packed up until 1-2 a.m. before the pandemic broke out in Vietnam. Most bia hoi joints also serve inexpensive street food like prawns barbecued with chili and salt, clams steamed with lemongrass, or green mango with a prawn-chili-salt dip.

A glass of bia hoi, of about 300 milliliters, costs between VND7,000-10,000 (US$0.30-0.43), while a bottle or a can of beer can cost anywhere between VND25,000-200,000.

Other best beer cities in the list are Prague in the Czech Republic, Munich in Germany, Brussels in Belgium and Dublin in Ireland.

Vietnam consumed more than 4.6 billion liters of beer in 2019, an increase of more than 10 percent from 2018. The country spends an average US$3.4 billion on alcohol each year, translating to US$300 per capita, according to the Ministry of Health.

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