Illustrative image. Photo: VNA

Covid-19: Daily cases down to 710 on June 11

The Ministry of Health confirmed 710 new cases of Covid-19 on June 11, down 152 cases from the previous day.

Hanoi still reported the highest number of infections on the day with 176 cases, followed by Yen Bai with 60 and Nghe An with 53.

Besides, southern Ben Tre province added 853 Covid-19 cases to the national caseload after verifying information.

The national caseload reached 10,731,244.

A total 7,321 Covid-19 patients were given the all clear on June 11, bringing the number of recoveries so far to 9,547,919.

There are 27 patients needing breathing support, while one death was recorded in the past 24 hours. The total fatalities stood at 43,083, cited VNA.

By June 10, the country had injected 223,388,747 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, including 4,564,882 first doses and 643,178 second doses for children from five to under-12 years old.

Vietnam expands cooperation with Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang made a working trip to the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region on June 9-10, seeking to strengthen post-pandemic cooperation with the French region.

Welcoming the ambassador, Philippe Meunier, vice president of the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, hailed the positive results of cooperation in urban planning, public lighting, health care, and education – training between the French region and Vietnamese localities such as Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region wishes to expand cooperation with Vietnamese localities in the fields of environmentally friendly green infrastructure, energy, medicine, as well as cooperation within the framework of the Francophonie, he said.

The French official called on Vietnamese localities to join the International Association of Francophone Regions (AIRF) and to attend Pollutech 2023 – Europe’s leading international exhibition on the environment.

Officials of the regional council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes receive Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang during his working trip to the region. Photo: VNA

During a meeting at the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI Lyon), Philippe Valentin, president of CCI Lyon, emphasized that many member businesses of CCI Lyon such as Thuasne and Boehringer Ingelheim are currently doing very successful business in Vietnam. He expressed his desire to increase cooperation in the areas of strength of Lyon businesses and according to the needs of Vietnamese partners, according to VOV.

Meanwhile, talking to Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang, Bruno Bernard, president of the Lyon Metropolis, discussed the possibility of cooperation with Vietnamese localities in urban planning to meet climate change challenges. He also shared experiences in post-pandemic tourism development associated with raising awareness and strengthening health safety measures to encourage tourists to extend their stay, limit travel transfer and reduce emissions.

Speaking at these meetings, Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang affirmed that expanding cooperation between Vietnamese and French localities is to meet the needs of both sides for a ‘win-win’ relationship. The Ambassador called on partners of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region to participate in the 12th Vietnam - France Conference of Decentralized Cooperation to be held in Hanoi in early December 2022, to deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation.

During his stay, Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang visited a number of local businesses that have cooperation programs and projects with Vietnam such as Confluence Museum, BioMerieux, AirLiquide, Laboratoire Aguetta, and Sanofi.

Vietnam calls for responsibility for peace, stability at ARF SOM

The sides should show their sense of responsibility for peace and stability in the region and the world, Ambassador Vu Ho, acting head of ASEAN SOM Vietnam, stressed at the ASEAN Regional Forum Senior Officials’ Meeting (ARF SOM).

Ambassador Ho said dialogues should be enhanced through such mechanisms as the ARF to build trust, ease differences and seek effective solutions to the current issues.

The ambassador also affirmed Vietnam’s willingness to coordinate with countries to contribute to international efforts in handling the problems, reported VNA.

Regarding the Bien Dong Sea, Ho noted that the recent developments in the waters have harmed peace, security, stability and maritime environment, and reiterated ASEAN’s stance on the significance of peace, security, stability and safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, the settlement of disputes by peaceful measures, adherence to international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), and the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the Bien Dong Sea (DOC) to facilitate negotiations of an effective, substantive Code of Conduct (COC) in the Bien Dong Sea in line with international law, including the UNCLOS.

Ambassador Vu Ho, acting head of ASEAN SOM Vietnam, at the meeting. Photo: baoquocte.vn

At the meeting, held via videoconference on June 9, the participating countries acknowledged the progress in cooperation of the ARF over the past time, especially the implementation of the Hanoi Plan of Action II (2020-2025).

They emphasized the need to promote the values of the ARF - a leading security forum promoting dialogues, cooperation, trust building and preventive diplomacy in Asia-Pacific, with ASEAN playing the central role.

The delegates exchanged views on regional and international issues of shared concern such as the conflict in Ukraine, the situation in Myanmar, and the East Sea issue.

On this occasion, Cambodia – ASEAN Chair 2022 – announced that the 29th ARF Foreign Ministers Meeting will be held in in-person format in Phnom Penh in August.

Vietnamese tourists able to easily travel to 25 countries worldwide

Outbound tourism is recovering very strongly amid high demand among Vietnamese people when many countries enthusiastically open up to international visitors.

Vietnamese people now have plenty of choice with regard to outbound tours. Most recently, the Republic of Korea and Japan began to welcome tourists back from early June, whilst other countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia have already started simplifying procedures in a bid to attract tourists.

The Middle East and Europe have also proven to be popular draws among Vietnamese tourists as they resumed air routes and eased Covid-19 restrictions in the post-pandemic period.

Nguyen Nguyet Van Khanh of Vietravel, a leading travel company I Vietnam, says destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the Republic of Korea are proving to be the most popular places among local travelers heading abroad.

A group of Vietnamese tourists visit Mongolia. Photo: Vietravel

At present tourists find it easy to travel to Thailand and Singapore as these two countries have lifted PCR Covid-19 test requests, cited VOV.

In June Vietravel is offering a five-day tour to the Republic of Korea without applying visa or financial proof for Vietnamese tourists, she says.

Moreover, outbound tourism has developed strongly with several new tourism products on offer. Since February, Saigontourist has reopened tours to 25 destinations, including the Americas, Western Europe, Northern Europe, Australia, Maldives, Dubai, South Africa, and Southeast Asian countries. Tours lasting between four and 11 days with departure times until December, include package tours, Free & Easy tours, retail air tickets, and hotel service.

Most notably, there are large groups of 100 to 300 foreign tourists using these services, showing that outbound tourism is gathering steam.

This has created great encouragement for the overall operation of the tourism industry, Doan Thi Thanh Tra of Saigontourist shared.

Vu Giang Bien, vice president of Hanoi Travel Association, said that new tourism products such as Nordic cruises, discovering winter with lighting festival in Australia, or visiting places used as scenes in famous films has brought new experiences and continues to attract increasing numbers of Vietnamese people.

Nearly 94,000 students enter 10th-grade entrance exam in Ho Chi Minh City

Nearly 94,000 students in Ho Chi Minh City entered the entrance exam for 10th-grade public schools on June 11, according to the city Department of Education and Training.

This year’s high school entrance exam will take place on June 11 and 12, including three subjects Literature, Mathematics and Foreign Language, cited NDO.

A test room at Bui Thi Xuan High School in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: NDO

The Mathematics and Literature exams are 120 minutes while the time for the Foreign Language exam is 90 minutes.

The entrance exam is held at 150 exam venues including 3,953 exam rooms. The city Department of Education and Training has arranged for more than 11,800 teachers and about 1,800 security guards to observe the exam.

A new regulation in this year’s 10th-grade entrance exam is that candidates have to keep their items 25m away from the exam room.

Ho Chi Minh City has 114 public senior high schools which will enrol about 72,800 students in the 2022-2023 school year. It means that more than 13,000 students will not be admitted to public schools this year.

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