A medical worker checks a Covid-19 patient in Dong Da District of Hanoi, November 20, 2021. Photo: VnExpress

Vietnam confirms another 13,835 local Covid-19 cases

The Health Ministry announced 13,835 new domestic Covid-19 patients Tuesday in 59 cities and provinces, with Hanoi recording its highest daily tally ever.

Most of the new cases were detected in Ho Chi Minh City, at 965, marking the first time in over a month that the city has got less than 1,000 cases per day.

It is followed by Can Tho City in the Mekong Delta with 898 cases and the southern Tay Ninh Province with 869 cases.

Hanoi reported 737 cases on Tuesday, marking the highest number of infections it has ever recorded in a single day.

In the past 24 hours, 217 Covid-19 patients have died, including 57 in HCMC, with four of them transferred to the city from other provinces, cited VnExpress.

Since the pandemic started last year, the death toll in Vietnam has climbed to 26,700, or 2 percent of all infections.

In the latest wave that hit the country in late April, more than 1.33 million cases have been confirmed and over one million of them have recovered.

So far, 55 million people have been fully vaccinated.

Hanoi considers non-essential services ban as Covid-19 cases surge

The Hanoi municipal administration is considering restrictions on non-essential services amid a skyrocketing number of coronavirus infections in the community.

The Covid-19 outbreak remains complicated in the capital city as hundreds of new cases have been confirmed on a daily basis in almost all districts over the past few days.

Data unveiled by the Hanoi Centre for Diseases Control show 791 people were diagnosed with the virus on December 3, a record high figure since the start of the outbreak. December 6 also saw 776 confirmed, with nearly half of them detected in the community, according to VOV.

The municipal administration on December 6 requested its districts to review Covid-19 developments and adjust prevention and control measures based on the Covid-19 four-alert levels adopted by the Ministry of Health.

It is considering suspending non-essential services such as food services, events with large gatherings of people among others if the daily number of new virus infections keeps rising.

Since the city moved into a new normal, many outbreaks have occurred in the community with unknown clusters of infections. Worryingly, large numbers of local people show apathy toward disease prevention and control.

Large gatherings of people sit at sidewalk cafes in Hanoi chatting without wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance. Photo: VOV

Indeed, many coffee shops and food eateries have neglected Covid-19 guidelines by opening late and not requesting customers to sit apart. Similarly, trading centers have been crowded with visitors and shoppers on weekends paying no heed to regulations on maintaining a safe distance.

People think that by having received two doses of the vaccine, they can safely travel without getting infection anymore, according to a health official.

In addition, many sidewalk cafes have reopened, attracting large numbers of drinkers gathering in groups and chatting without wearing masks or complying with other regulations.

Assoc. Prof. & Dr. Tran Dac Phu, former director of the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health, pointed out that when life returns to normal, people have to accept living with the virus.

However, he warned a sharp increase in infection numbers shows many people have not strictly followed epidemic prevention recommendations, including the 5K message.

“It is imperative to control the number of new infections, especially critically ill cases, otherwise it will overload the health system,” he said.

Along with complying with Covid-19 guidelines, Phu said vaccinations should be accelerated, especially among high-risk groups such as the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.

“We should also be highly vigilant against the intrusion of the newly mutated variant Omicron which is spreading across the globe including Southeast Asia,” the health professional warned.

Hanoi, HCM City among top 100 city destinations list

Vietnam's two biggest cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, are part of a global index of 100 best city destinations complied by a British market research firm.

The capital city was ranked 94th while the southern metropolis stood 90th in the first edition of Top 100 City Destinations Index 2021 compiled by Euromonitor International.

Nightlife in HCMC is seen from above. Photo: VnExpress

To compile the index, the firm researched over 110 cities across 86 markets. The cities were measured on six main pillars: tourism performance, economic and business performance, tourism policy and attractiveness, tourism infrastructure, health and safety and sustainability.

Among these six pillars, both Hanoi and HCMC performed worst in the sustainability pillar, which measures climate, pollution, over-tourism and UNESCO heritage sites, reported VnExpress.

Vietnam's two biggest cities got the highest rankings in the 'tourism infrastructure' pillar, which assessed city destinations based on lodging, transportation, entertainment, shopping and dining venues.

Hanoi and HCMC are home to many high-end hotels, homestay services and other entertainment venues.

Paris, known as the city of love, topped the index, followed by Dubai and Amsterdam.

The rest of the top 10 were dominated by European cities like Madrid, Rome, Berlin, London, Munich and Barcelona.

New York was the only non-European city to break into the top 10, standing in seventh position.

Other Asian cities did better than Vietnam in this index, with Tokyo (15th) topping the region, followed by Beijing (32nd), Seoul (35th), Bangkok (45th), Hong Kong (49th), Delhi (72nd) and Kuala Lumpur (74th).

After two years of border closures, Vietnam reopened its doors to foreign tourists last month and plans to resume regular international flights early next month.

HCMC has proposed the government welcomes back foreign tourists with valid vaccine passports from this month without mandating quarantine upon arrival.

In 2019, the year before the onset of the pandemic, HCMC received 8.6 million foreign arrivals, up 10 percent from a year ago while Hanoi welcomed 7.02 million, a 17 percent year-on-year increase.

Vietnamese blockbuster to vie for Oscars awards

Vietnamese movie “Bo Gia”, also known as “Dad, I’m Sorry”, has been selected by the Vietnam Cinema Department as the Vietnamese representative to enter the preliminary round of the Best International Film award at the 2022 Oscars.

This will see the film compete against 93 other pieces to be honored at the global awards ceremony, which is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in the United States in March 2022.

Vietnamese movie “Bo Gia” will compete at the preliminary round of the Best International Film award at the 2022 Oscars

The film is an adaptation of a hit web drama directed by Vu Ngoc Dang and TV host Tran Thanh. The web drama version, which was released on YouTube back in early 2020, has proved a big hit in the country, receiving more than 90 million views for its five episodes.

The movie focuses on the story of Sang, an old motorbike-taxi driver who lives in a low-income area in downtown Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) who struggles to earn enough money to take care for his family.

Most notably, “Bo Gia" became the highest-grossing Vietnamese movie by earning VND200 billion, equivalent to US$8.69 million, in just nine days. It was the first time a Vietnamese movie had passed this figure domestically, according to movie distributor Galaxy, cited VOV.

Earlier, the Vietnamese film “Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh”, known as “I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass”, and action movie “Hai Phuong”, known as “Furie”, were also selected to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the Oscars.

Vietnamese students win medals at Int’l Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

All five Vietnamese students won medals at the 14th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA), according to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training.

The Vietnamese team comprised five 12th graders from Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted.

Vietnamese students win medals at Int’l Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics. Photo: tuoitrethudo.com.vn

Nguyen Khanh Tam and Tran Dinh Dung pocketed gold medals. Meanwhile Nguyen Manh Duc won a silver medal, and Le Duc An and Dinh Tran Hai Chien were bronze medallists, VNA reported.

The 14th IOAA was held online from November 14 – November 21, attracting students from over 50 countries and territories around the world.

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