Domestic airfares

Tuan issued this directive at a Tuesday meeting with Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) and the airport’s management board in Ho Chi Minh City.

He said the agencies must prepare to cope with the influx of air passengers and take steps to avoid congestion in the security screening area.

“The airport’s security area must increase its maximum capacity and mobilize more employees to serve passengers to avoid overcrowding that recently happened in the area,” Tuan said.

The domestic terminal at the country’s largest airport has seen frequent overcrowding over the past week, forcing passengers to queue up for hours at the security screening area . Between April 14 and 19, the airport saw up to 80,000 passengers a day.

Tuan also asked the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) to check the number of hourly flights at major airports as the passenger congestion was also triggered by carriers accumulating or canceling flights.

Passengers’ medical declarations was another reason. Tuan agreed that security forces are not tasked with checking passengers’ medical declaration as has been done so far. Instead, this should be the responsibility of the airline staff.

Nguyen Duc Hung, deputy general director of ACV, explained that the recent overcrowding at Tan Son Nhat was related to the limited capacity in the security screening area.

In the A and B lobbies, the airport is equipped to handle over 3,300 passengers an hour. However, from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. last Saturday, the number of passengers waiting for security checks in the two lobbies was more than 5,100, exceeding the capacity by 25-35 percent.

Another factor in the recent overcrowding was a policy to random check 10 percent of passengers. Dinh Viet Thang, head of CAAV, said the random checks were meant as an additional security and safety measure.

To resolve the issue, ACV has been operating the security screening system to their maximum capacity and moved five security scanners from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. Airport authorities have also adjusted the number of flights during the peak hours to reduce congestion at the airport.

The Tan Son Nhat airport has been serving 36 million passengers a year since 2017, well above its capacity. Construction of a third terminal will begin this October.

With Vietnam having contained its latest Covid-19 outbreak, domestic air travel has returned to normal. The latest outbreak occurred in late January, just a few weeks before the Lunar New Year holiday, forcing many people to cancel travel plans.

Authorities block roads in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on April 18. — Phnom Penh Post/ANN

HÀ NỘI — Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng has sent a message of sympathy to Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) President and Prime Minister of Cambodia Samdech Techo Hun Sen over the resurgence of COVID-19 in the country.

The Vietnamese Party leader, on behalf of the Party, State, and people of Việt Nam and in his own capacity, offered fraternal sentiments and heart-felt sympathy to Cambodia over the losses caused by the pandemic.

Noting that COVID-19 continues to seriously impact human health and every aspect of socio-economic life in all countries, including Việt Nam and Cambodia, General Secretary Trọng said Việt Nam has been keeping a close watch on the pandemic situation in the neighbouring country and deeply understands the difficulties Cambodia is facing.

“We value the measures that the CPP and the Cambodia Government have undertaken to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic in the recent past, and believe that under the CPP’s sound leadership and the drastic governance of the Cambodian Government led by Samdech Techo Hun Sen, along with the support and unity of Cambodian people, Cambodia will successfully contain the pandemic,” Trọng wrote.

He went on to say that Việt Nam has implemented a host of strong and timely measures to mobilise the involvement of the entire political system and the entire people in containing the pandemic. Despite the complicated developments, Việt Nam has so far basically curbed the pandemic.

This outcome has been appreciated by both the international and domestic community, General Secretary Trọng said, affirming that the Vietnamese Party and State will continue with drastic measures to contain and minimise sources of infections, detect infected patients early and promptly treat them to make a swift recovery, while implementing a vaccination campaign.

The Vietnamese Party leader stressed that with the tradition of solidarity and mutual support between the two Parties, States and people, Việt Nam is always ready to cooperate with and support and share experiences with Cambodia in the fight against COVID-19, so that the two countries can stabilise the situation as early as possible.

He used the occasion to thank the CPP and the Cambodian Government for providing COVD-19 vaccinations for staff members at Việt Nam’s representative missions and Vietnamese students, as well as support for the community of Cambodians of Vietnamese origin in COVID-19 prevention and control.

On the occasion of the Chol Chnam Thmey festival, the Vietnamese Party leader wished Hun Sen, the CPP leadership and Cambodian people a happy new year with good health and prosperity. — VNS

A medical staff of Nghệ An Province General Friendship Hospital receives COVID-19 vaccine shot on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Bích Huệ

HÀ NỘI — A total of 14,386 people, mostly frontline medical staff, received COVID-19 vaccine shots on Tuesday, bringing the total number of vaccinated people in the country to 106,929 in 27 localities in the two phases of the vaccination drive, according to a report released on Wednesday by the health ministry.

Việt Nam is pressing ahead with the 800,000 AstraZeneca doses received from COVAX Facility in the second phase of the national vaccination campaign (with the first phase using 110,000 AstraZeneca doses bought from the manufacturer) and plans to administer all of the doses before May 31, the expiration date of the batch from COVAX.

Also on Tuesday, Tuyên Quang, Bình Định and Vĩnh Long provinces started their inoculation campaigns.

Việt Nam recorded no new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday morning, keeping the national tally at 2,801, according to the Ministry of Health.

Out of the total patients, 2,490 have been given the all-clear, while the death toll remains at 35.

Among patients still under treatment, 12 have tested negative for the coronavirus once, 11 twice and 17 three times.

Meanwhile, 39,385 people are under quarantine nationwide, including 514 at hospitals, 23,870 at concentrated quarantine facilities and 14,991 at their residences.

The northern province of Hải Dương, the hotspot in Việt Nam’s third wave from late January to March, has went 27 days without any new domestically transmitted infections, while major cities like Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh, HCM City have gone more than two months without new local cases. VNS