Day: February 7, 2022

The level-2 field hospital No.3 of Vietnam engaging in the United Nations peacekeeping mission together with Ghana’s Formed Police Unit (FPU) recently arranged the first charity trip of the year to Bentiu Central Prison in South Sudan.

The trip was organised on the occasion of the 92nd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Tet (Lunar New Year), the most important festival of Vietnamese.

The prison is the largest one in South Sudan’s Unity State, holding more than 120 inmates, and facing shortages of food, medicine and health care for prisoners.

In addition to aid packages and necessities, Vietnamese medical soldiers provided free checkups and medicine for prisoners and handed over medical supplies to wardens.

Lieut. Col. Trinh My Hoa, Director of the hospital, said that staff of the hospital wish to join hands with units of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to improve living conditions in Bentiu Central Prison, leaving no one behind even if they are prisoners.

Khalid Mohammed Mohammed Sanad Leila from UNMISS, who is the main coordinator of the activity, voiced his gratitude to the benevolent activity of Vietnam’s peacekeeping force.

During their 10 months in Bentiu, the level-2 field hospital No.3 arranged numerous charitable activities, such as presenting medicine and medical equipment to a local hospital; and providing HIV/AIDS rapid test kits, screening and consultations on HIV/AIDS prevention.

The hospital also supported an emergency surgery for Doctors Without Borders in a 10-day campaign./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

As many as 216 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, killing 121 people and injuring 138 others during the Lunar New Year holiday from January 29 to February 6, reported the Traffic Police Department.

Compared to the same period last year, the number of accidents, fatalities and the injured went down 7.3 percent, 10.4 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively.

Among them, 214 road accidents left 120 dead and 137 injured while two railway accidents killed one and injured another.

Police in localities also found 25,723 violation cases with fines up to over 25 billion VND, detained 110 automobiles and 4,277 motorbikes and revoked 2,127 driving licenses.

Over 1,600 drivers were found to exceed the legal limit for “drunk driving”, or 6.6 percent of the total violations.

Localities collected fines of over 100 million VND from 215 violation cases on waterways.

Via inspections, traffic police partnered with relevant agencies to arrest 23 criminals and 32 drug traffickers during the period./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

About 1.7 million students of all grades in Ho Chi Minh City are expected to return to school by February 14 at the latest, according to the municipal Department of Education and Training.

On February 7, the first day after the Lunar New Year holiday, students from the 7th to 12th grades in the southern hub continue in-person learning, which has been resumed for them since early January.

Meanwhile, kindergartens and primary schools will reopen on February 14.

Notably, primary school students are allowed to directly attend school on a voluntary basis, and schools were told to organise educational activities in a way that matches the pandemic situation in the places they are located in.

HCM City has been classified as a “green” zone, equivalent to Level 1 – the lowest in the four-level pandemic scale, for five consecutive weeks, the municipal People’s Committee announced on February 5./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Southern Dong Nai province has recently become a new destination for people who love camping and exploring the beauty of nature.

Tri An Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes in Southeast Asia, is popular as a familiar camping area for travellers from neighbouring localities.

Located on the Dong Nai River, the lake is the reservoir of the Tri An hydropower plant.

It has an area of 32,400ha and 72 islets, which are ideal for camping.

People can camp around the lake shores or at islets on the lake, such as Bau (Gourd) and O (Eagle).

There are places for pitching tents, burning campfires, and going fishing.

Travellers can enjoy the beauty of sunset and sunrise on the lake.

“What I like most about the lake is that the atmosphere is fresh and peaceful. It helps me to forget worries and tiredness of daily life,” said Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen of Dong Nai.

“My friends and I have joyful days and took beautiful photos.”

For families with small children, they can choose homestays near the lake like Ba Dat Eco Homestay, and Cao Minh Colorland tourism area, offering many services to visitors from bicycles to kayaks.

Near Tri An Lake is Chua Chan Mountain, the second-highest mountain in the southeastern region.

Located in Xuan Loc district, the mountain, also known as “miniature Da Lat”, has a cool and fresh climate all year round, which is suitable for camping and trekking.

Travellers have to park their vehicles at the foot of the mountain, and then climb around two or four hours to the camping sites in the middle of the top of the mountain.

It is a long climb, but it is worth it.

The camping sites surrounded by fields of reeds are beautiful, while the view from the mountain is fantastic.

When having an overnight camping, people have the opportunity to see a sky full of stars, a rare sight in urban areas.

When getting up early, campers can see the beauty of the sunrise, and be overwhelmed by a sea of clouds before their eyes.

Le Thanh Xuan of Dong Nai said: “The landscape on Chua Chan Mountain is incredible. It’s the first time I have seen a sea of clouds in my lifetime.”

“For those who want to go camping at Chua Chan Mountain, be well-prepared before your trips because you can’t find anything on the mountain except for wonderful landscape.”/.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The solidarity among the Vietnamese people has never shone so brightly during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Ambassador Luong Thanh Nghi, Vice Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (OV) Affairs (SCOV).

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the Lunar New Year (Tet), he said the Party and State have always paid attention to encouraging OVs to uphold and bring into play the national identity and spread the country’s values to international friends.

Every year, the SCOV organises trips to the homeland for OVs, particularly on the occasion of important anniversaries or events like the death anniversary of the Hung Kings – the legendary founder of Vietnam, Tet, and the National Day (September 2). Among those activities, the Homeland Spring programme, held annually on the occasion of Tet, is the largest cultural event for the OV community.

Summer camps also take place annually for young OVs to experience cultural and historical values as well as the daily life in the homeland, Nghi noted, adding that overseas representative agencies of Vietnam hold Tet celebrations each year, and the SCOV has worked with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to arrange the Vietnam Day or Vietnamese Culture Week in many countries. With regard to COVID-19, he said since the pandemic broke out, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has coordinated with relevant agencies to make plans to repatriate Vietnamese citizens stranded abroad. Though not all citizens’ wish to return home has been met, thanks to efforts by Vietnamese agencies both at home and abroad, the repatriation work has been done well, showing the spirit of mutual assistance, especially the compatriotship with OVs.

In the trying times caused by the pandemic’s impacts on every economic, cultural, and social aspect, the Vietnamese people have demonstrated their mettle and will and popularised the Vietnamese values to international friends, according to the ambassador.

In 2020 and 2021, Vietnamese overseas donated about 120 billion VND (5.3 million USD) to the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Fund and the COVID-19 Vaccine Fund, thousands of tonnes of medical supplies, and hundreds of thousands of N95 face masks. In particular, a number of Vietnamese doctors in the US and some other countries voluntarily applied to join frontline forces in the homeland in the pandemic combat. Several online forums were held for OVs, especially medical experts, to share anti-pandemic experience with Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities.

Nghi went on to say that in the vaccine diplomacy campaign, many OV associations along with prestigious and influential Vietnamese persons in other countries assisted representative agencies in seeking and accessing sources of vaccine supplies. The vaccine abundance at present is partly attributable to OVs.

Concluding the interview, he sent the best wishes to all OVs and expressed his hope that they will maintain their enthusiasm to join hands with compatriots in the homeland to realise the aspiration for national prosperity and happiness for all people./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency