Vietnam News Today (December 12): Sputnik V Vaccine Production Factory to be Built in Vietnam in One Year

Covid patients are treated at Hanoi's National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, December 2021. Photo: VnExpress

Vietnam records highest daily Covid infection tally ever

Health authorities on Saturday confirmed 16,104 new local Covid-19 cases in 59 localities, marking the highest daily coronavirus infection tally since the pandemic broke out in Vietnam last year.

The three localities with the highest number of new cases were Ho Chi Minh City with 1,441 cases, Binh Phuoc with 1,164 cases and Tay Ninh with 903 cases.

209 deaths were added to the national database on Saturday, with 67 cases in HCMC, 17 in Dong Nai, 13 each in An Giang, Binh Duong and Can Tho, 12 in Tay Ninh, 11 in Kien Giang, 10 each in Dong Thap and Tien Giang, eight in Long An, seven each in Soc Trang and Binh Thuan, five in Ben Tre, four each in Ca Mau and Tra Vinh, two each in Binh Dinh, Ben Tre and Khanh Hoa and one each in Nghe An and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, cited VnExpress.

The total numbers of death so far is 27,611 cases, or around 2 percent of all infections.

1,084 Covid-19 patients were announced recovered the same day, totaling to 1,053,425 recovered cases.

Vietnam has vaccinated 74.7 million people with at least one Covid-19 shot. 57.1 million people have received two shots.

Vietnam chairs meeting of UNSC Informal Working Group on Int’l Tribunals

Ambassador Pham Hai Anh, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of Vietnam to the United Nations, chaired a periodical meeting of the UN Security Council’s Informal Working Group on International Tribunals in New York on December 10.

This is the fourth and also final meeting chaired by Vietnam in its post as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure.

An overview of a meeting of UN Security Council. Photo: VNA

In his opening remarks, Anh thanked members of the working group for their cooperative and constructive contributions.

In the past two years, as the Chair of the working group, Vietnam has helped promote dialogue between the group and the Chair and the prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) to complete the mechanism’s tasks assigned by the UNSC, thus promoting the observance of the UN Charter and international law, he added.

Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Stephen Mathias hailed the efforts of the judge, and staff of the IRMCT in overcoming difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to maintain and speed up the judging activities.

He also lauded the cooperative attitude and efforts of the group’s members, especially Vietnam’s performance as the Chair of the group in maintaining the group’s operations and dialogues with the mechanism amidst the complicated situation.

The Informal Working Group on International Tribunals was established in June 2000 to deal with a specific issue pertaining to the statute of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 (ICTY), reported VNA.

It was subsequently mandated to deal with other legal issues pertaining to ICTY as well as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighboring States between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994 (ICTR).

Sputnik V vaccine production factory to be built in Vietnam in one year

A factory producing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 will be built in Vietnam within one year and is expected to produce 30-40 million doses annually, Chairman of Russian pharmaceutical company Binnopharm Dmitry Zubov told Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Russia.

Earlier this month, Binnopharm and the Russian Direct Investment Fund signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam’s T&T Group on the transfer of production technology and the formation of a facility with full cycle production capacity of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in Vietnam.

Photo: qdnd.vn

According to Zubov, the time of one year for construction is feasible, as Binnopharm has just built another factory in Belarus in eight months, according to VOV.

He said this will be a multi-purpose and closed-cycle factory using advanced German equipment. It can produce other vaccines as well.

He considers this an important basis for Russia to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam on pharmaceuticals, thereby entering the Southeast Asian market.

Vietnam to resume international flights on 9 routes in January

The government has approved the resumption of international flights between Vietnam and nine destinations that have managed high vaccination rates and good pandemic control on January 1.

They are San Francisco or Los Angeles (the U.S.), Singapore, Bangkok (Thailand), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Vientiane (Laos), Beijing/Guangzhou (China), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), and Taipei (Taiwan).

The resumption of regular flights is meant to restore international passenger transport activities, speed up economic and tourism recovery and enable overseas Vietnamese to return to their homeland for the upcoming Lunar New Year, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said in a government directive.

Aircraft park at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, June, 2020. Photo: VnExpress

He also stressed that while resumption of flights is necessary, effective pandemic control must continue.

The Ministry of Health has been instructed to consult experts, businesses and the public to issue fresh entry guidelines for people coming on regular international flights.

The foreign affairs ministry will continue negotiations to reach agreements with other countries and territories on mutual recognition of "vaccine passports," with priority for areas to where flights will first resume, cited VnExpress.

The health, public security and information and communications ministries will soon release the medical declaration software for use by air travelers and businesses and for monitoring and tracing visitors.

Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam on Wednesday instructed the health ministry to scrap the seven-day mandatory quarantine and allow fully vaccinated passengers to self-isolate on arrival.

Vietnam grounded international flights in March last year, for a long time allowing in only its nationals, foreign experts, investors, and highly-skilled workers coming by special flights.

Vietnam pledges to protecting universal human rights values: Deputy FM

The nation’s policy of protecting human rights will serve to consider people as both the goal and the driving force behind further national development, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang.

This comes after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Development Program (UNDP) jointly organized an International consultation workshop on the morning of December 10 to discuss the second draft voluntary mid-term report on the implementation of UPR third cycle recommendations.

The workshop took place in tandem with the occasion of the International Human Rights Day 2021 and ran with the theme "Equality - Reducing inequality, promoting human rights".

The theme directly relates to Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.

As part of the occasion, Deputy FM Dang Hoang Giang talked to the media about the country’s implementation of international obligations and commitments in terms of human rights, including recommendations under the UPR that the nation approved in Cycle III back in 2019.

Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang. Photo: VNA

Deputy FM Giang noted that the country has so far participated in the majority of international conventions regarding human rights and remains committed to fully implementing its obligations in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and these conventions, VOV reported.

When delivering on those commitments, the nation also aims to better implement the Party and State’s policies in terms of protecting human rights and looking after citizens, especially amid Covid-19, he said.

The Deputy Minister underlined that the country views citizens as both the goal and motivation for further development.

Along with the protection of human rights for its own people, the nation has made various contributions to efforts aimed at ensuring universal human rights through its engagement in major discussion contents of international multilateral mechanisms and organizations. This can especially be seen in its activities as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, he said.

The official added that this is the first time the country has compiled a mid-term report on the implementation of UPR third cycle recommendations, underlining that this represents a meaningful and practical activity.

The report indicates what the nation has done and what it should do to improve, he said, adding that during the report compiling process, international partners have given their consultations and advice to, along with sharing their experience to help the country improve its performance in this field in the time to come.

Regarding ASEAN members’ selection of the nation as their representative at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in the 2023 to 2025 period, Deputy FM Giang stressed that it not only manifests the country’s strong commitments in making more contributions to the international community, but also proves that Vietnam is a reliable and responsible partner of the international community.

He added that ASEAN member states have reached a consensus on supporting the nation to run for a seat at the UNHRC, which shows the bloc’s high evaluation of Vietnamese contributions and belief in what the country will do in the future. The Vietnamese diplomat added that he remains confident that apart from ASEAN, more countries and groups of countries will back the Vietnamese candidacy.

The nation has also pledged to the international community that it will do its best to protect the universal values of human rights, whilst further stepping up efforts of the UN in promoting human rights globally.

Vietnam News Today (December 11): Vietnam to Resume International Air Routes on December 15 Vietnam News Today (December 11): Vietnam records 14,819 new Covid cases; Vietnam to resume international air routes on December 15; Vietnam nominated as co-chair of ...

Vietnam News Today (December 10): No Concentrated Isolation Required for Incoming Visitors with Vaccine Passport Vietnam News Today (December 10): Vietnam to inoculate all adults with third Covid shot by mid-2022; Vietnam, Brazil seek new business co-operation opportunities; No concentrated ...

Vietnam News Today (December 9): HCM City to Inject Third Covid-19 Vaccine Jab from December 10 Vietnam News Today (December 9): Vietnam confirms 14,595 new Covid-19 cases; Vietnam, New Zealand sign action program to promote strategic partnership; HCM City to inject ...