Australia's Victoria state on Monday reported its biggest daily rise in COVID-19 cases this year, while some curbs were eased in Sydney despite persistent infections. Hard lockdowns in Victoria will end once 70% of its adult population gets fully vaccinated, expected around Oct. 26, and authorities aim to hit 80% before the Nov. 2 Melbourne Cup, Australia's most famous horse race. A total of 567 new locally acquired infections were detected in Victoria, the majority in state capital Melbourne, up from 507 on Sunday, and one new death was recorded. Daily cases have topped 500 for the past five days. Nearly half of Australia's 25 million people is in lockdown after the Delta variant spread rapidly in Sydney and Melbourne, forcing Victoria and New South Wales to abandon a COVID-zero target and shift to rapid vaccinations to ease curbs. Australia has largely lived in COVID-zero for much of the pandemic, recording 1,163 deaths and some 86,000 cases. About 55,000 cases have been …
Sa Pa woman gives unconventional tour amid the epidemic
With ingenuity, Sa Pa native Vu Thi Ngoc Huong still welcomes hundreds of visitors to this land amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Arising at first light, the agile lady helps her family prepare ingredients to make Rom cake - a traditional cake of the Giay people on the biggest holiday of the year. She then installs the old iPhone into the gimbal, and checks the transmission to smoothly welcome tourists to join the online tour “Giay cuisine - the biggest day of the year”. Huong usually has 1-2 weekly online tours, the largest of which can be up to 50 guests at once. She attracts visitors with her dazzling smile, graceful speaking and her fluency in English. Visitors from afar all attentively watch each stage of making sticky rice cakes, contemplating the atmospheric village of the Giay ethnic minority during the traditional holiday. Bringing hundreds of tourists Huong has always cherished the desire to preserve and spread the culture of the Giay ethnic group. In August 2020, she …
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HCMC’s continued social distancing vexes foreign firms
"Everyone must have expected that Covid-19 would stabilize and social distancing would end on September 15th," Lee Hee Bok, deputy director of Korean-owned Daeyoung Electronics Vina, said. "But it is very unfortunate that this is not the case." The company in Thu Duc City has had hundreds of employees living on its premises since July 15, and they would be mentally and physically exhausted if they stay for two more weeks, he told VnExpress International. Daeyoung, which makes parts for electronics products like LCD screens and refrigerators, has seen production fall to 40 percent of pre-pandemic levels since only 30 percent of employees are working. "Customers are demanding more products, but we are unable to respond to their needs due to limitations in manpower and raw materials supply," Bok said. Similar difficulties are reported by some American companies. "The severe restrictions and lockdowns that Vietnam has imposed to curb the spread of the Delta variant has forced …
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10,040 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Sunday
Police officers at a COVID-19 checkpoint in the southern province of Bạc Liêu. — VNA/VNS Photo Chanh Đa HÀ NỘI — A total of 10,040 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday, taking the country’s total number of infections to 687,063. Fifteen of the new infections were imported and 10,025 new cases were all domestic. There were also a further 233 fatalities announced Sunday. Compared to Saturday, the number of daily cases has increased nationally by 665. HCM City still tops the list with 5,496 new infections, followed by neighbouring Bình Dương Province with 2,332. The other infections were found in Đồng Nai (953), An Giang (287), Long An (249), Kiên Giang (151), Tiền Giang (102), Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu (84), Tây Ninh (53), Cần Thơ (52), Khánh Hòa (37), Bình Định (30), Quảng Ngãi (24), Hà Nội (20), Cà Mau (18), Quảng Bình (15), Bình Phước (15), Ninh Thuận (15), Phú Yên (13), Quảng Nam (13), Hậu Giang (11), Đắk Nông (11), Trà Vinh (8 ), Bình Thuận (7), Đồng Tháp (6), Bến Tre …
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Laos intensifies pandemic prevention in capital, Malaysia to give booster shots
The Lao Ministry of Health on September 19 confirmed 371 new infections in the past 24 hours, including 303 found in the community. The number of cases in Vientiane accounted for the lion’s share of the daily caseload, at 225. Travel, except for those with permissions, is banned in the capital’s locked-down areas. Vientiane is also intensifying its pandemic prevention measures, including 14-day quarantine for people from other COVID-19-hit localities and prohibition of traveling to localities with high level of pandemic situation. Laos has so far logged 19,185 cases, including 16 deaths. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s administration of the booster shots to high-risk groups such as front-liners, the immunocompromised and the elderly with comorbidities will begin once the COVID-19 mass immunization coverage has covered 80 percent of the adult population nationwide, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said. According to official statistics, as of September 18, 78.2 percent of Malaysian …
30 artists perform in MV about people in COVID-19 fight
Thirty theatre artists of HCM City perform in the music video (MV) Sài Gòn, Ngày Vui Trở Lại (Sài Gòn, Happy Day Returns) on YouTube. It features the Vietnamese spirit in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of the producer HCM CITY — Thirty theatre artists of HCM City have released a music video (MV) on YouTube featuring the Vietnamese spirit in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic. The MV, called Sài Gòn, Ngày Vui Trở Lại (Sài Gòn, Happy Day Returns), feature songs about the challenges that doctors, nurses, health workers and soldiers face during the fight. The solidarity and bravery of HCM City people during the pandemic are featured. The MV also includes images of HCM City and its people in daily life. “Our MV contains our love and gratitude to the brave people who are working day and night to take care of and protect the community,” said Meritorious Artist Hữu Quốc, producer and songwriter of the MV. "We have faced difficulties in offering live …
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