Does february have 28 days

After a sudden downpour on April 4, Nguyen Tien Dung, 40, and his colleagues at the state-owned Ho Chi Minh City Urban Environment Co., Ltd (Citenco) had to spend two hectic days removing dead fish from the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, which flows through Districts 1, 3, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, and Tan Binh.

They collected 14 tons of fish from a three-kilometer section of the 8.5-km (5.28 miles) canal, making it one of the most serious such incidents in almost a decade since Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe was cleaned.

Dung and 20 others had rushed to the scene at 3:30 in the morning after being informed that dead fish were floating all over the canal.

He said: “Even the previous evening I had noticed a lot of dead fish in the water and its change of color. Though I’d come prepared, I was still shocked to see so many fish belly up all over the canal.”

Since 2012, after taking over the job of cleaning the canal, he has been taking out dead fish almost every year soon after the rains arrive, but what he saw that morning left him dismayed: the fish covered almost the entire water surface visible between garbage and water hyacinth plants.

Dung and his team had to work as fast as possible since the huge volume of dead fish posed a serious threat to the water environment.

The city Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s fisheries division provided a clear explanation for the mass death.

It said the sudden heavy rains flushed out a large volume of wastewater lying in the drains, which then covered the canal surface and significantly reduced the oxygen in the water.

The sudden rush of wastewater also stirred the layer of sludge at the bottom, which usually contains toxic gases. The gases were released and they rose up and dissolved in the water.

“The dual impact from below and above led to a sudden change in the fish’s living environment and killed them,” the division said.

Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe was once arguably the most polluted water body in the city.

A project to dredge and clean it began in 1993 at a cost of VND1.6 trillion ($69.3 million). Embankments and roads along its two banks were built and households living along it were relocated.

Ten years later an even bigger clean-up was undertaken, this time with sewers built to ensure wastewater was no longer released into the canal, with over $300 million provided by the World Bank.

But the story of fish dying en masse in the year’s first rains has become a regular one, the worst being in 2016, when 70 tons were collected.

Jolted by this, in 2017 the Steering Center for Urban Flood Control Program proposed installing an oxygen system in the canal at a cost of VND134 billion to save the fish.

But since it costs VND99 million ($4,290) a day to operate the system, the proposal remains on paper.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment said the cost is unacceptable since the main function of the canal is to drain the city and not act as a fish farm.

According to the fisheries division, to avoid the annual fish deaths, the city needs to install a system to collect and treat wastewater all along the canal at a cost of VND40 trillion ($1.73 billion).

And with authorities still unable to arrive at a decision, Citenco has come up with its own temporary solution for the problem: reducing the canal’s fish population by catching them and releasing them in other rivers.

Truong Van Ho, head of the garbage collection team, said it is necessary for the company and his team to receive timely warnings so that they could shut the drains and let rainwater dilute the residual wastewater before flushing it into the canal.

He spoke at a press conference on the national online book festival, which will take place from April 17 to May 15, to celebrate the 8th Vietnam Book Day.

According to Nguyen, the national online book festival will be held on website book365 floor.vn with the theme Books for Everyone. As part of the event, the online book copyright festival will be held on April 19-26, also on book365.vn floor, with the participation of many publishers from 32 countries. The opening ceremony of the 8th Vietnam Book Day will be organized on April 18 at Ho Chi Minh City Book Road. Also, many activities will be held throughout the country to celebrate the 8th Vietnam Book Day.

Mr. Nguyen Nguyen, director of the Publishing, Printing and Publishing Department

The online book festival will attract more than 70 domestic publishers and book distributors to the book exchange floor, over 50 domestic and international publishers to the book copyright floor and more than 20,000 book titles, said Nguyen.

For the first time, the national online book festival will have a book copyright transaction floor, emphasized Nguyen. He hoped that this would be a pilot step for domestic publishers to experience this form of copyright transactions with foreign partners.

“In Vietnam, the proportion of foreign books accounts for about 30%, creating a basis for online copyright transaction. So far, publishers from 32 countries have agreed to join this transaction floor. On this floor, copyrights on three types of books – English books, children’s books, technology books – will be traded,” he said.

The organizers have made improvements in the interface as well as technology of book365.vn to enable readers to search and select books and enable connection and transactions among publishers.

Many events, such as seminars, online exchanges between authors, translators, researchers and publishers with readers; programs to encourage readers to buy books; and book discounts, free shipping and presentation of gifts to readers and book sellers and others, will be held during the book fair.

Two ministries jointly promote reading culture

The signing ceremony between representatives of the Publishing, Printing and Publishing Department (Ministry of Information and Communications) and the Vietnam National Library.

The Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on April 15 signed an agreement in the field of publishing and libraries towards the goal of promoting the reading movement and reading culture in the community.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Bao, Deputy Director of the Publishing, Printing and Publishing Department, under this agreement, the two ministries will coordinate to hold book exhibitions, promotion of books and publishing and library activities through the organization of book-related events such as conferences, seminars at home and abroad, activities to respond to the Vietnam Book Day and Reading Culture (April 21), the World Book and Copyright Day (April 23), the National Book Awards; support and transfer the application of information technology to the library system to access digital/electronic publications, and expand information connections, and data share between the two sides; inspect the publication receipt of publishers and organizations licensed to publish non-business documents to submit to the National Library of Vietnam in accordance with the law on publishing; and digitize publications for management.

Tinh Le

The patient has recovered from the cardiac arrest

N.A.T, 26, from Cau Giay district in Hanoi, has recovered from the cardiac arrest and apnea attack that occurred in February. He is now in stable condition and is able walk, eat and drink by himself.

T was taken by the 115 Emergency Center to E Hospital at 7:50 am on February 25. Upon hospitalization, he was in a state of apnea, cardiac arrest, pupil dilation, weak light reflection, and systemic cyanosis, with a critical prognosis.

The physicians immediately gathered to give emergency care and restore his heartbeat, but the patient was still in a coma. High-dose vasopressors were used to maintain the heart rate and blood pressure.

A consultation among doctors from the Emergency Department and the Cardiovascular Center Department of Intensive Care and Anti-Poisoning was held to detect the causes and discuss the treatment to save the patient.

The doctors decided to apply intensive resuscitation measures while trying to minimize the potential serious consequences to the patient.

A hypothermia technique, which minimizes the neurological sequelae to the patient, was chosen as well as resuscitation measures such as mechanical ventilation and continuous dialysis.

Hypothermia is a technique which keeps the patient’s body at 32-36oC for 24-72 hours after successful first aid for cardiopulmonary arrest. It helps to protect brain cells from damage.

After 24 hours, the machine warms up the patients using a strict procedure that gradually raises the temperature by 0.25oC an hour until the patient has a normal temperature.

After intensive resuscitation and the 24-hour hypothermia procedure, the patient’s cardiac rhythm improved, the pupils shrank, and he had clear reflexes.

On the fifth day of treatment, the patient limbs responded when stimulated with pain, and his blood pressure became almost stable again. After seven days, the patient could open his eyes when asked.

Dr Vu Hai Vinh, head of the Intensive Care Department, said that cardiac arrest is a phenomenon of many different diseases.

Many patients suffer from severe neurological sequelae after cardiac arrest, including brain damage, heart damage, and other harmful inflammatory reactions, leading to brain edema, inflammation and necrosis, which can cause brain death and mortality.

The doctors therefore chose to use hypothermia to save the patient. Research has shown that the technique reduces the mortality rate to 14 percent.

The golden time for applying the technique is no more than six hours after cardiac arrest, an expert said.

Nguyen Lien

Authorities in Kien Giang told an online meeting with the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control on Friday there had been days when the province had received up to 10 people returning from Cambodia, with all testing positive for the new coronavirus.

Now, medical centers across the province no longer have the capacity to handle more Covid-19 patients.

The province shares a borderline of 56 kilometers (34.8 miles) and 62,000 square kilometers of sea area with Cambodia.

Daily, thousands of fishing vessels and boats trading oil and seafood operate across this maritime area, with managing entry a hard task, a provincial representative stated.

With the ongoing outbreak in Cambodia, the province suggested the Ministry of Health establishes a field hospital for Covid-19 treatment in the beach town of Ha Tien, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported.

In response to the proposal, Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy head of the Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department under the Ministry of Health, told the province to set up field hospitals using schools, dormitories or sports centers.

Cambodia imposed a coronavirus lockdown on its capital Phnom Penh on Thursday in a bid to contain a spike in cases. The country recorded 291 new infections on Saturday, pushing its tally to 5,771.

In a voice message posted on his official Facebook page, Prime Minister Hun Sen warned Cambodia was on the brink of “death valley” and urged people to work together to avoid calamity.

Heath Minister Nguyen Thanh Long told an online meeting Friday the border area with Cambodia, including Mekong Delta provinces, are now “major hotspots” at high risk of possible Covid-19 outbreaks.

Vietnam’s border with Cambodia spans 1,137 kilometers, including the four Mekong Delta provinces An Giang, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Long An. Other Vietnamese provinces bordering Cambodia are Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh which are near Ho Chi Minh City, and Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, and Dak Nong in the Central Highlands.

On Tuesday, border guards in An Giang Province detected a man and woman breaking into Vietnam illegally from Cambodia.

Both later tested positive, prompting authorities to track down all those that had come into contact with the pair since they set foot in Vietnam.

By Saturday morning, it has been confirmed 12 people who had direct contact with them have tested negative.

Last month, Vietnam had suffered a spate of infections after a group of Vietnamese returned home illegally from Cambodia on a boat trip to Kien Giang’s Phu Quoc Island.

Many Vietnamese reside and do business in Cambodia, with many found infected with the novel coronavirus here over the past months.

While Vietnam has sealed its borders, there are occasional illegal entrants who evade checkpoints to avoid mandatory quarantine.

As per Health Ministry protocol, all those entering the nation from abroad must be quarantined for 14 days, during which they will be tested at least twice.

Vietnam has gone over two months without community transmissions.