Day: February 15, 2022

COVID-19 patients who are allowed to self-monitor at home have been told to measure and pay attention to breathing rate, pulse, temperature, peripheral oxygen (SpO2) levels, and blood pressure, then fill out a health monitoring sheet twice a day.

The Ministry of Health on February 12 issued new guidelines on health monitoring for COVID-19 patients who are allowed to self-monitor at home. Vietnam registered 29,413 COVID-19 patients on February 14, the highest since the start of the pandemic.

Under the guidelines, COVID-19 patients are allowed to self-monitor at home but have to watch out for symptoms of fatigue, cough, coughing up phlegm, chills, conjunctivitis, loss of taste or smell, diarrhoea, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, persistent chest pain, drowsiness, sore throat, headache, dizziness, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting and muscle aches.

The ministry said that while detecting any of the following signs, COVID-19 patients must immediately notify the commune and ward health station, mobile medical station, or emergency transportation centre for emergency treatment:

– The breathing rate is higher than 20 times per minute for adults and higher than 40 times per minute for children from 1 to under 5 years old; or higher than 30 times per minute for children from 5 to under 12 years old.

– The SpO2 is less than 96 percent (in case of detecting abnormal SpO2 index, it needs to be measured again after 30 seconds to one minute.

– The heart beats at higher than 120 beats per minute or lower than 50 beats per minute.

– The systolic blood pressure is lower than 90 mm Hg and the diastolic blood pressure is lower than 60 mm Hg.

– The patients feel frequent chest pain, tightness in the chest and pain when taking a deep breath.

– For adults, the patients fall into confusion, narcolepsy, lethargy and tiredness; for children, it is difficult to wake up.

– Purple lips, purple fingernails, toenails, blue skin, pale lips, cold fingertips and toes.

– Inability to drink, poor appetite, vomiting (in children). Children have multisystem inflammatory syndrome: high fever, red eyes, red lips, strawberry tongue and swollen fingers and toes, or having more acute diseases of dengue fever as well as hand, foot and mouth disease.

Dealing with a fever

For adults with a fever higher than 38.5 degrees Celsius or headache with severe body pain, patients need to take one antipyretic medicine such as Paracetamol of 0.5 g each time. They should take the medicine every four and six hours and no more than four tablets a day. The patient could take Ore-sol if he or she eats poorly or drinks instead of water.

For children with a fever higher than 38.5 degrees, parents or caregivers should give antipyretic medicine such as Paracetamol at a dose of 10-15 mg/kg each time. It can be repeated every four and six hours for no more than four tablets a day.

If after taking the fever-reducing medicine twice the fever is not reduced, the patient is required to immediately notify the COVID-19 Self-monitor Patient Management Facility for further treatment.

If the patient has a cough, he or she should use cough suppressants when the cough is very dry.

The ministry notes that the patients should rest and do light physical activity (suitable for their health status); focus on their breathing for at least 15 minutes a day; drink water regularly; not wait until thirsty to drink water; not skip meals; enhance nutrition including eating enough, eating fruit, and drinking fruit juice; think positively and maintain a comfortable mentality.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The speedboat service between Vung Tau city to Con Dao island in the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau was restored on February 15 after a nine-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Trung Nhi high-speed boat, operated by Phu Quoc Express JSC, departed from Cau Da Port in Vung Tau city to Con Dao with 598 passengers aboard.

Phu Quoc Express JSC said it will initially operate at half of its capacity with three trips from Vung Tau to Con Don every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and three return trips on the remaining days of the week.

Deputy General Director of Phu Quoc Express JSC Nguyen Thi Dieu Binh said since late December 2021, the firm has coordinated with local competent agencies in building pandemic prevention and control plans, and maintained the boat in preparation for the resumption of service.

This is the last speedboat service from the mainland to islands in the southern region to be restored after the suspension. Last month, Kien Giang, Binh Thuan and Quang Ngai provinces allowed high-speed boat services to islands to resume.

The Con Dao-Vung Tau speedboat service was launched in 2019, helping to shorten the travelling time from 13 hours to only three hours.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The number of COVID-19 cases detected in the past 24 hours from 4pm February 14 to 4pm February 15 stood at 31,814, including 27 imported cases, up 2,384 cases from the previous day, according to the Ministry of Health.

Hanoi continued to record the highest number of infections with 3,972 cases, followed by Hai Duong with 1,807 and Hai Phong with 1,417.

The national tally reached 2,572,087, including 198 infections of Omicron.

There are 2,926 patients in critical conditions, while an additional 85 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the total fatalities to 39,122.

A total 9,326 patients were given the all-clear, taking the total number of recoveries to 2,242,273.

By February 14, the country had injected over 186.47 million doses of vaccines to date, with over 74.76 million people now fully inoculated, while more than 32.48 million booster shots and third shots of Abdala vaccine had been administered.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien hosted a reception for Singaporean Ambassador to Vietnam Jaya Ratnam in Hanoi on February 14.

At the event, Chien said that Vietnam highly values position, role and active participation of Singapore in promoting the bilateral relations, especially within the ASEAN framework, thereby raising intra-bloc solidarity and enhancing the role and position of the bloc in the region and the world.

He voiced a hope that Singapore will uphold its role and bolster the implementation of the targets of the ASEAN Community together with Vietnam and other ASEAN nations.

The official thanked the Singaporean government for providing Vietnam with COVID-19 vaccines via the COVAX Facility and hoped for continued support in the coming time.

The Vietnamese Government and the National Defence Ministry always treasure the countries’ strategic partnership, viewing it as a foundation to beef up the bilateral defence cooperation for practical results, he remarked.

Chien said he hopes that the Singaporean ambassador will continue to pay attention to and promote the implementation of cooperation fields that the sides agreed upon at the recent 12th Vietnam-Singapore defence policy dialogue, contributing to strengthening the bilateral strategic cooperation in the future.

For his part, Ratnam underlined that the Singapore-Vietnam relations have thrived in the past nearly five decades on the foundation of mutual respect and trust, especially after the countries lifted the bilateral ties to a strategic partnership in 2013.

Defence is among the most important fields of cooperation of the bilateral relations, he affirmed.

The diplomat pledged to spare no efforts in enhancing the bilateral relations across all spheres, including national defence.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Budget carrier Vietjet Air announced on February 15 that it will operate six return flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Thailand’s Bangkok from March, doubling its current frequency.

The airline’s representative said the move aims to offer more flight options for passengers and make contributions to the recovery of trade and tourism links between the two nations and in the region.

Serving the plan, Vietjet Air will launch a 50 percent ticket discount programme for the route between February 16 and 21 for flights departing from February 16 to May 31.

Vietjet Air’s passengers flying internationally from HCM City will continue to receive a free COVID-19 PCR test at the testing points designated by the airline.

Fully vaccinated Vietnamese tourists with valid negative test results within 72 hours before departure can access Thailand’s “Test and Go” programme to enter the country without quarantine.

On January 1, the carrier resumed its commercial international flights connecting Hanoi and HCM City with Tokyo (Japan), Taipei (Taiwan), Seoul (Republic of Korea), Singapore, and Thailand.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The capital city of Hanoi will spend a total of over 1.8 trillion VND (79.1 million USD) on mitigating traffic congestion and ensuring traffic safety in the city for the 2021-2025 period.

The municipal People’s Committee has recently issued a plan on the implementation of the municipal People’s Council-passed target programme on these tasks.

The programme is set to be carried out in five years with the budget allocated on a yearly basis of around 336 billion VND (14.5 million USD) for 2021, 343 billion VND (15 million USD) for 2022, 401 billion VND (17.4 million USD) for 2023, 425.8 billion VND (18.5 million USD) for 2024, and 359 billion VND (15.6 million USD) for 2025.

Specifically, each year, the capital city targets to resolve seven to ten traffic congestion hotspots and timely eliminate black spots in traffic accidents to cut traffic accident rate by 5-10 percent per year (in terms of cases, number of deaths as well as injuries).

To achieve the goals, the local authorities figured out ten groups of solutions including better management of high buildings and relocation of residents out of urban areas in order to reduce population density.

In addition, industrial production sites which cause environmental pollution, universities, vocational schools, and administrative units are set to relocated out of the city’s center and increase land funds for traffic activities.

Budget will be given to improve public transport capacity and limit private vehicles in long term.

Up to 180 roads at 12 districts will be embellished. Over 160 traffic lights will be installed.

Noticeably, Hanoi will build an online digital traffic map to serve the management, operation and regulation of traffic and develop a smart parking spot search software to help people find and pay parking spots conveniently.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A runway of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City will be closed from 2pm on February 21 to 2pm on March 15 for maintenance and upgrade, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

The airport will connect some under-construction taxiways in parallel with the runway under a plan previously approved by CAAV.

The authority has reduced the number of flights to 30 per hour from February 21 to April 30 due to the closure of the runway. Airlines are requested to utilise flight slots to ensure their effectiveness and push up the operation of night flights.

The CAAV directed the Southern Airport Authority and Tan Son Nhat International Airport to work with HCM City’s Department of Transport to arrange public means of transport to meet the needs of passengers, contributing to easing congestion at the airport.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport is expected to serve 735 flights with over 78,000 passengers on February 15. Of these, some 22,400 will leave while 55,600 others will arrive at the airport.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Digital transformation is being promoted at border gates, helping settle procedures more quickly while reducing travel time and costs, Nhan Dan (People) newspaper reported.

Vu Van Tuan, deputy head of the Lao Cai International Border Gate Customs Office, said the unit has implemented e-customs declaration at Kim Thanh and Lao Cai Station border gates since 2014.

It takes only two to three seconds for customs clearance in the green lanes, ensuring fast and safe customs clearance and improving the law observance of individuals and enterprises, he said, adding that the Lao Cai Economic Zone Management Board strives to complete the digital transformation at the border gates by the end of 2022.

Pham Duy Hung, deputy head of Hoanh Mo Border Gate Customs Office in Quang Ninh province, said most of the administrative procedures are done on the online public service system. This does not only reduce travel time for businesses but also helps solve customs-related paperwork more quickly as well as minimise negative phenomenon, he said, adding that the Vietnam Automated System for Seaport Customs Management (VASSCM) system has been deployed at two seaports and 23 customs free warehouses.

Hung said that since the beginning of this year, the Quang Ninh Customs Sub-department has implemented a customs declaration software for businesses at https://e-declaration.customs.gov.vn:8443. Enterprises only need to have an internet-connected device to access to customs declaration.

Lang Son is with the most breakthroughs among the localities promoting the application of digital technology at the border gates.

The province piloted the digital border gate platform at Huu Nghi and Tan Thanh from mid-January.

Nguyen Khac Lich, director of the provincial Department of Information and Communications, said the digital border gate platform is developed base on modern technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data (Bigdata), Cloud computing. The platform is shared between various authorities, helping cut down the time for conducting neccesary procedures and improving transparency in management activities.

Pham Tuan Hoan, deputy director of Xuan Cuong Friendship JSC, an enterprise specialising in providing wharf and transshipment services at Huu Nghi International Border Gate, said the commissioning of the platform facilitates information confirmation.

Deputy Director of the Lang Son Customs Sub-department Vi Cong Tuong said with about 700,000 vehicles entering and leaving the border gate each year, the Digital Border Gate Platform has brought about great benefits as it minimises the workload, time and costs, adding that it can reduce the risk of infection for officials working there given the complicated development of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Vietnam News Agency