Health workers take care of a six-month-old Covid-19 patient in Da Nang. Photo: VnExpress

Vietnam records 14,934 new local Covid cases

Vietnam confirmed 14,934 local Covid-19 cases Sunday, bringing the infection tally in the new wave to 2,112,349.

The three localities with the highest numbers of patients are Hanoi with 2,967 cases, Da Nang with 984 cases and Hai Phong with 764 cases.

Vietnam has recorded 135 infections with the Omicron variant so far, with 68 cases in Ho Chi Minh City, 27 in Quang Nam, 14 in Hanoi, 11 in Khanh Hoa, eight in Da Nang, two each in Thanh Hoa and Quang Ninh, and one each in Hai Duong, Hai Phong and Long An.

123 deaths were added to the national database on Sunday. The total number of deaths so far is 36,719 cases, or 1.7 percent of all infections, cited VnExpress.

4,157 Covid-19 patients were announced recovered on Sunday, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 1,804,849.

78.8 million people have received one Covid-19 vaccine shots, 73.8 million have received two and 23.1 million have received three.

Tet celebrations hosted for Vietnamese people worldwide

Vietnamese embassies have been busy organizing celebrations of traditional New Year – Tet – for Vietnamese expats across the world.

On January 22, the Embassy in Kuala Lumpur hosted a gathering for Vietnamese people living in Malaysia, during which Ambassador Tran Viet Thai extended Tet greetings to the Vietnamese community.

He praised outstanding Vietnamese role models who have made great contributions to the community last year.

In a similar event in Algiers, Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Vinh said overseas Vietnamese people remain an inseparable part of the country. He highly spoke of the Vietnamese expats’ contributions to the homeland and valued their mutual support for each other during the pandemic.

A Tet get-together is held by the Embassy of Vietnam in Slovakia for Vietnamese expats on January 22. Photo: VNA

Another get-together was held by the Embassy of Vietnam in Slovakia in the capital city of Bratislava on the same day, which gathered a large number of Vietnamese expats and associations in the European country.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Nguyen Tuan thanked the Vietnamese community for helping reinforcing the friendship between the two countries and developing Vietnam, according to VNA.

Meanwhile, Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Hoang Long attended a warm Tet gathering held for the first time by the Vietnamese Society in Oxford, bringing together Vietnamese students and PhD candidates as well as professors and lecturers from the University of Oxford.

Long said he expects the partnership in education and training between Vietnam and the University of Oxford will grow further, particularly in research.

First billion-dollar logistics fund established in Vietnam

Singapore-based real estate investment management company GLP has established the GLP Vietnam Development Partners I with an investment of $1.1 billion, the biggest ever logistics fund in Vietnam.

The fund will focus on developing six modern and environmentally-friendly logistics facilities with a total land area of nearly 900,000 square meters in Hanoi and HCMC.

Cargo waiting to be shipped at the SP-ITC International Container Terminal in HCMC. Photo: ITC

According to GLP, a leading global investment manager and business builder in logistics, data infrastructure, renewable energy and related technologies, GLP VDP I is one of the largest logistics development funds in Southeast Asia.

The fund has received commitments from many investors in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East representing pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, including APG Asset Management and Manulife, reported VnExpress.

The Singapore-based company entered Vietnam in 2020 through SEA Logistic Partners, a GLP-backed industrial and logistics facility development and operation platform with focus on Southeast Asia.

According to Agility’s 2021 emerging market logistics index report, Vietnam is among the top 10 leading emerging logistics markets with an index of 5.67 and an expected compound annual growth rate of 7 percent in the 2021-2026 period.

Airport, train station in HCMC see many passengers returning home for Tet

It was recorded that the number of people coming to Tan Son Nhat Airport on January 22 to go to provinces was much higher than on normal days.

Most people want to return home early for the Tet holiday with their families after a long time of separation because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Similarly, at Saigon Railway Station, many people carrying many bags and suitcases were waiting to board the train. Most of the passengers are students, pupils, and office workers whose hometowns are in the Central provinces. They get an early break, so they return to their hometown to celebrate Tet.

Photo: VNN

At the ticket counter, there are still a lot of train tickets to provinces in the coming days. According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Luyen, Deputy Director of Saigon Railway Transport Company under the Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, the company only operated two pairs of North-South trains in the previous days, cited SGGP.

It has increased to seven pairs of trains every day, starting from January 22. By the 24th day of the twelfth month in the lunar calendar, it will increase to 11 pairs of trains per day to meet the travel demand of passengers. Along with that, it will organize to run short-distance trains, such as from Ho Chi Minh City to Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Quang Ngai, and Da Nang.

Amid the complicated pandemic situation, the company has offered a 10-percent discount and free food for passengers who buy tickets for a whole compartment with 4-6 beds. In addition, there are promotions if passengers buy tickets for the whole carriage.

Book reveals untold stories about water puppetry

A young painter has released a book telling stories about water puppetry as well as the career of artisans and artists of this traditional art.

The book, “Ke chuyen tren mat nuoc” (Stories on water surface), was created by Luong Linh, a young man in Ho Chi Minh City who spent four years cruising Vietnam from the north to the south to meet insiders of the art, which has a history of over 1,000 years, VOV reported.

The book “Ke chuyen tren mat nuoc”. Photo: Sunbox non-profit organisation

Combined with knowledge of a painter, the 144-page book not only provides an insight into the origin and secrets of the art but also introduces 184 water puppetry characters in diverse designs, from the oldest to the latest. Some designs even have never been unveiled before as they were made for new plays.

The large number of vivid and beautiful images is accompanied by simple, understandable but attractive information about water puppetry, considered the “soul” of the farming life, along with many interesting facts.

They are expected to inspire the interest to this traditional art among culture lovers, along with young readers.

“Ke chuyen tren mat nuoc” is the second work of the “Tu sach Sieu nhan” (Superman's bookcase) project, founded by the Sunbox non-profit organization in HCM City with the aim of raising fund for community programs.

Earlier, this project unveiled a book titled “Mot phuong roi nuoc” (A water puppetry troupe) by Luong Linh and Thien Loc, together with a set of water puppetry toys which were all welcomed by the public.

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