Mmiwg calls to action

TOKYO — A recent surge in COVID-19 cases could see major parts of Japan slide back into states of emergency with authorities in Tokyo and Osaka looking at renewed curbs to stop the spread.

The new wave of infections complicates preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are due to start in July having already been postponed due to the global coronavirus outbreak last year.

Japan this month put Osaka, Tokyo, and eight other prefectures under “quasi-states of emergency” aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 with shorter business hours for restaurants and bars and stronger calls for teleworking.

But those measures have done little to reverse the trend so far, with Osaka reporting a record 1,220 cases on Sunday, two weeks after those restrictions took effect as a mutant strain fueled the spread.

“The fruits of these measures should be appearing now,” Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters in comments carried online.

“Medical services are also in a dire state, and we’ve decided that we need a state of emergency. We need stronger measures such as those that would stop the movement of people,” he said, adding that Japan’s third-most populous prefecture would make the formal request to the government on Tuesday.

In a TV Asahi poll published Monday, just over half of respondents said they believed the “quasi-emergency” restrictions were ineffective.

Tokyo is also considering a state-of-emergency request, Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters late on Sunday, in a step backwards as Japan scrambles to bring the pandemic under control ahead of the Summer Olympics.

“Taking pre-emptive action is crucial right now,” Koike said. Tokyo reported 543 new cases on Sunday, the 18th straight day of seven-day increases.

Asked about possible requests from Osaka and Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, the government’s top spokesman, said any such calls would need to be considered “swiftly.”

A ceremony marking the handover was held April 9 at the offices of the 3rd Regional Coast Guard in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau.

Attending the ceremony were Vietnam Coast Guard commander Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Son, U.S. Consul General Marie Damour and other officials, the U.S. embassy said in a Facebook post Saturday.

Lt. Gen. Son said that Vietnam highly appreciated the U.S. gesture and considered the event “an important milestone of the Vietnam-U.S. partnership,” helping Vietnam improve its law enforcement capacity at sea.

The cooperation between the coast guards of both countries has strengthened in recent years.

In 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard handed over the Hamilton-class (the second-largest class of vessels in the U.S. Coast Guard) USCGC Morgenthau cutter to the Vietnam Coast Guard under their Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program. The ship was then commissioned for the Vietnam Coast Guard and renamed CSB 8020.

The U.S. has also sold a total of 24 Metal Shark high-speed patrol boats and is overhauling the USCGC John Midgett, another Hamilton-class vessel, to hand it over to Vietnam.

At a press conference in Hanoi, outgoing U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink had remarked that security cooperation was developing strongly between the two countries, especially between the two militaries.

He said that Vietnam and the U.S. have worked together to implement a United Nations resolution on North Korea and to promote a common stance on the East Sea. The U.S. has assisted Vietnam in building its defense capacity, especially maritime capabilities, and supported Vietnam in sending peacekeeping personnel to South Sudan.

Referring to East Sea disputes, Kritenbrink had stressed that the U.S. always stood by its partners and allies in building an international order based on rules, and opposed ” the provocative actions of China with the other countries in the region.”

MIT ranks fifth among THE’s best universities in 2021 and leads the world’s schools in technology training according to QS 2021 ranking. It offered the student financial support of $64,000 a year.

Passion for astrophysics

In childhood, Quan was curious about natural phenomena in the universe. “Why are there constellations?” “Where do shooting stars come from?” These were questions that Quan wanted to answer.

Quan scored first in the entrance exam for the math major class at the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, and the exam for the chemistry major class at the High School for the Gifted in Natural Sciences.

The great achievements were why Quan’s friends called him superman.

Le Manh Cuong, his physics teacher, discovered Quan’s special love for constellations in the sky. Though astronomy and astrophysics was not a subject in the general education program, he decided to help Quan learn about it.

Later, it was the teacher who sent Quan to the national astrophysics team to attend the international competition. In 2019, Quan attended the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) and won a gold medal with maximum scores.

After returning from the international competition, Quan began seeking an environment where he could study and conduct research.

He believed that leading schools such as MIT and Princeton would offer favorable conditions for students’ creativity, learning and promotion of their abilities, especially with the advice of leading professors in their fields.

Quan applied to the two schools because they are among a small number of schools that choose international students based on their abilities, not on candidates’ financial capability.

Quan had a strong profile when applying for the schools. The physics major had a 1600/1600 SAT and 8.0 IELTS. He twice won first prize in physics at the national competition for excellent students, when he was in the 11th and 12th grades.

Quan attended many national and international competitions and won a lot of medals, including the gold medal at the 2018 International Youth Science Olympia and gold medal at 2019 IOAA, gold medal at 2020 European Physics Olympiad.

The medals were not really made of gold, but from sweat during training, according to Quan. He said hopes he will have the chance to attend the International Physics Olympiad this year.

Thuy Nga – Huu Chanh – Phuong Thu

Le Tri Thanh, Quang Nam chairman, said Sunday that the central province has sent a draft plan to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on welcoming international tourists.

If approved, Quang Nam will become the first province in the country to accept visitors with the so-called Covid-19 vaccine passports.

The plan will have visitors entering Vietnam on tours organized by international travel agencies. Each visitor should have a vaccine passport (documented proof of vaccination) and a certificate from medical agencies showing negative Covid-19 test results.

“We plan to welcome South Korean visitors in the first phase. We will learn from the experience, and in the second phase, we can open to more markets,” Thanh said.

The group of tourists will go on a charter flight to the Chu Lai Airport and be taken straight to resorts in Duy Xuyen District or Nui Thanh District for 5-10 days, not to quarantine facilities.

Chu Lai is slated to become an international airport and be eligible to add necessary equipment to receive charter flights.

Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of the Quang Nam Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the two resorts were isolated and quite far from residential areas. The staff at these two resorts will be Covid-19 vaccinated and would follow and apply all pandemic prevention measures, he/she said.

Nguyen Van, deputy director of the provincial health department, said the plan to welcome international visitors has been carefully prepared.

“Throughout the transportation process, the visitors will be required to stay in the car with no stops on the way. The pandemic prevention measures at the accommodations will be applied just like a quarantine center.”

On April 15, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung had said that the ministry plans to reopen international tourism under a roadmap in which the pilot phase from July 2021 to September 2021 will focus on beach tourism and golf tourism in Quang Nam for visitors from the South Korean market.

The ministry’s studies have found that the south of Hoi An area and Chu Lai Airport in Quang Nam Province meet the requirements of safety, transport infrastructure and tourism services as an area for the pilot phase.

The ministry has said that in order to forward the proposal to the prime minister, the Quang Nam administration must review facilities, equipment, human resources and safety requirements; and prepare an official document confirming the province’s readiness to coordinate with the ministry in implementing the plan.

Due to the closure of the borders as a pandemic safety measure, the number of international visitors to Vietnam was just 3.7 million in 2020, down 80 over 2019.

Vietnam stopped all international commercial flights in March 2020. International visitors coming into the country since are mainly experts, high-tech workers, investors and foreigners working on projects in Vietnam.

“We are researching and preparing step by step the pilot selection of a number of markets to apply vaccine passports, welcoming visitors while ensuring safety amid the pandemic,” Hung said.

He also said that his ministry wants the government to apply the vaccine passport policy soon, because it would be key to opening the door for international visitors.

Lam’s introduction happened during the halftime break of a J1 League match between Osaka and Urawa Reds. He had earlier spent 14 days in quarantine.

Wearing the number 1 jersey, Lam was introduced alongside Australian forward Adam Taggart.

“Hello everyone, I’m Dang Van Lam, a goalkeeper from Vietnam. I’m really happy and excited to be here for the first time. I will train really hard to play well and contribute to the club,” Lam said.

Osaka is currently fourth on the table after 12 J1 League rounds. The club is slated to play in the AFC Champions League tournament. To get a regular spot in the team, the 28-year-old keeper will have to prove his worth and compete against other keepers in the team like South Korean Kim Jin-hyeon and Japanese Kenya Matsui.

Lam, who grew up in Russia and spent his youth at Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow clubs, moved to Vietnam in 2011 to play for the Hoang Anh Gia Lai club. After unsuccessful spells in Laos and Russia, his career finally took off in 2015 after he joined Hai Phong FC.

He retained his excellent form for the next four years, got called up to the national team and has become its number one choice.

In 2019, he transferred to Muangthong United for $500,000 and put in 42 appearances for the Thai club.

He will be the fourth Vietnamese to play for a Japanese club, after Le Cong Vinh (Consadole Sapporo), Nguyen Tuan Anh (Yokohama FC) and Nguyen Cong Phuong (Mito Hollyhock). All three predecessors played for the J2 League, making Lam the first Vietnamese to play for a J1 League team.

Lam was in the news earlier this year when he decided to end his contract with Muangthong United and move to Osaka. Muangthong has reported him to FIFA for contract violation, but Lam’s agent said the player has every right to terminate the contract since the Thai club had cut his pay without telling him.

There are more than 51,000 tons of unsalable shallots in Vinh Chau Town of Soc Trang Province. (Photo: SGGP)

Many farmers in Vinh Chau Town face difficulties because of the record low price of shallots. (Photo: SGGP)

Mr. Ma Chi Tho, Head of the Economics Department of Vinh Chau Town, said that because shallots originating from China and Thailand were sold on the market at only VND3,000 per kilogram, so domestically-grown shallots also declined. Besides, due to the complicated situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, shallots could not be exported in the past months. Previously, Vinh Chau shallots were mainly exported to China.

Mr. Thach Nua, 52, a farmer in Vinh Hai Commune in Vinh Chau Town, said that his family had planted 1.5 hectares of shallots and finished harvesting nearly a month ago. However, because the price of shallots was too low, his family had to stockpile about 60 tons of shallots to wait for the price to go up. With the current average price of VND6,000-VND9,000, farmers suffer heavy losses, with an average loss of nearly VND10 million per 1,000 square meters of shallots. Currently, the prices of seeds, fertilizers, and plant protection drugs are quite high, so the prices of shallots at the fields must be from VND15,000 per kilogram upwards for farmers to earn profits.

Not only Mr. Thach Nua’s family, but many other shallot farmers in Vinh Chau also face difficulties because of the record low price of shallots. Many families cannot afford to start a new shallot crop and do not have warehouses to store shallots, or they have to sell shallots at low prices because they must pay for fertilizers and plant protection drugs.

Mr. Ngo Hung said that besides focusing on carrying out solutions to find a market for shallots, the Party Committee of Vinh Chau Town has agreed to call for support of local officials to “rescue” shallots, contributing to helping shallot farmers to overcome the current difficult situation.

By Tuan Quang – Translated by Thanh Nha