Security application

HCMC sets up security cameras at Covid-19 quarantine facilities

February 25, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

Healthcare centers in each district have been requested to set up a CTTV camera system at centralized quarantine facilities and make sure all footage could be extracted to help monitor suspected Covid-19 carriers currently in isolation.

All records of a quarantined person, as well as of the inspection and supervision process, must be kept at the quarantine camp, the department said.

To cope with infection spread, HCMC has been operating 52 centralized quarantine facilities that offer a total 4,500 beds across different districts aside from a dormitory of 10,000 beds at the Vietnam National University in Thu Duc City.

The city now has five medical facilities for Covid-19 treatment that can provide 1,955 beds in total.

As per containment protocol, Vietnam requests all people returning from abroad, those that have visited affected areas and those that have come into close contact with previously infected patients to remain in centralized quarantine camp for 14 days.

Since Jan. 28, when community transmission returned to Vietnam after almost two months, the city has reported 36 cases in eight districts. Of these, 35 were linked to the outbreak at its Tan Son Nhat airport, whose origin has yet to be identified, and the other to Hai Duong, the country’s epicenter.

The latest wave, which began in northern Hai Duong and Quang Ninh provinces, has spread to 13 cities and provinces, with infections rising to 820.

HCMC has detected no new cases in the last two weeks.

VinBrain reaches final round of global Covid-19 fight contest

February 25, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

The team has developed a solution applying artificial intelligence to the accurate diagnosis of Covid-19 infections and provides intervention options.

Infection patterns vary by country and territory. As a result, interventions may work in one country or territory but be less effective in another.

A total 48 teams from 17 countries were selected for the final round out of a total 104 teams from 28 countries in the semi-finals. The results will be announced at the end of February 2021.

The jury selected the VinBrain team for the final round based on the accuracy of its AI models and ability to easily interpret predictions of the solution. This approach can be used for any future pandemic response model.

Members of VinBrain in the U.S. have come up with an extensive solution to this problem by developing region-specific AI models to predict the Covid-19 infection time series in those regions. The solution was based on the classical epidemic SEIR model, which was then expanded to integrate artificial intelligence.

Amir Banifatemi, General Manager for Innovation and Growth of Vinbrain in US.

Amir Banifatemi, GM for Innovation and Growth at VinBrain in U.S. Photo courtesy of VinBrain .

In order to train its AI models, the team used available data like demographics, medical infrastructure, and economic indicators. A special feature used by the VinBrain team is Google Maps mobile metrics collected from worldwide Android phones in an anonymous and secure way, measuring the movements of people in public areas like parks, hospitals, workplaces, grocery stores, stations, airports.

Another unique feature used by the VinBrain team is Google’s Covid-19 infection trend data aggregated anonymously and that contains popular Covid-19 symptom-related Google searches.

The Pandemic Response Challenge co-organized by XPRIZE and Cognizant was launched in November 2020. With prize money of $500,000, the contest aims to harness the power of data and artificial intelligence to predict Covid-19 infection rates, and propose intervention plans for governments, communities and regional institutions to control the pandemic when reopening the economy.

VinBrain is an AI-focused company funded by VinGroup and its mission is to infuse AI and IoT to medicine. VinBrain aims to provide access to the best healthcare solutions, knowledge, and services. VinBrain is made up of a team of talented AI professionals with world-class experience.

Their expertise lie in the fields of computer vision, machine learning, language processing and large scale products and services. VinBrain’s AI experts work in teams despite living in many different countries and territories including Vietnam, Australia, South Korea and the United States.

More than 20 localities in Vietnam have low birth rate: Health Ministry

June 17, 2020 by vietnamnet.vn

Vietnam’s economic engine HCM City has the country’s lowest fertility rate of 1.53, according to the Ministry of Health’s latest report in June.

More than 20 localities in Vietnam have low birth rate: Health Ministry

A newborn at HCM City’s Hung Vuong Hospital. The city’s fertility rate is lowest in Vietnam.

A total 21 provinces and cities have low to very low fertility rates, mostly in the Mekong Delta, southeast and central coastal regions. With a total population of 38 million, these provinces’ prolonged declining fertility rates pose dire threats to the country’s future in terms of security, workforce and economy, the report said.

Meanwhile, 33 others have high fertility rates, with the central province of Ha Tinh topping the list at 2.9 births per woman of childbearing age.

The MoH has recently decided to attempt to adjust fertility rates among localities to maintain the desired fertility at replacement level of two to 2.2 children per woman of reproductive age.

The ministry said it would allocate State funds to provide contraceptive methods to localities with low birth rates which are usually poor and currently account for 42 per cent of the country’s population.

There will also be incentives to encourage families in areas with low fertility rates to have more children.

The plan touches on piloting online sex education and consulting for youth as well as programmes to prevent infertility and reproductive cancers for adolescents.

According to the MoH, Vietnam has a high rate of infertility of which 7.7 per cent is primary infertility.

The 2019 Population and Housing Census also revealed contradictions between women’s financial statuses and their willingness to bear a child.

Those in the richest group had the lowest fertility rate and vice versa. Sex imbalance at birth has witnessed an upward trend in recent years, the census highlighted.

Vietnam’s total fertility rate (TFR) dropped from 2.25 children per woman in 2001 to 1.99 in 2011. From 2012 to 2019, the rate ranged from 2.04 to 2.1.

According to the 2019 census, the TFR of urban areas was 1.83 children per woman, lower than rural areas’ average rate of 2.26. The trend has remained the same for two decades.

The imbalance in access to information and health care services contributes to the status quo, the census suggests, as couples living in cities are aware of the benefits of family planning and can easily access contraception.

Earlier in April, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved a birth rate adjustment programme which encourages people to get married before the age of 30 and women to give birth to their second child before they are 35.

The programme plans to offer incentives for couples with two children including reducing tax, tuition fees, rental expenses and social housing prices.

Local authorities have been asked to pilot marriage and family consultation services such as dating clubs and pre-marriage health consultations. VNS

Tax deadline should be delayed for businesses, says ministry

February 25, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

A tax official guides a business owner through online tax procedures (Photo: laodong.vn)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Businesses may have several additional months before they have to pay income tax and land-use fees , per a proposal from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to the Government.

The ministry proposed a five-month extension for business VAT tax, a three-month extension for income tax (for certain businesses only) and land-use fees, which may result in a more than 5 billion USD reduction in the State’s budget collection during the first half of 2021.

The proposal also included household and private businesses in sectors eligible for support as well as their income tax.

The MoF said the State budget would still even out as taxpayers were expected to make full payments by the end of the fiscal year while citing numerous difficulties faced by the business community in dealing with the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as grounds for the proposal.

The ministry stressed the importance of allowing businesses to hold on to their cash as it’s essential to the country’s economic recovery. This is the third proposal made by the ministry in support of the business sector.

Last year, tax offices issued extensions for nearly 185,000 businesses with a total tax payable of 3.8 billion USD with the main benefits being 14 domestic car manufactures to the tune of 870 million USD.

Economist Dinh Trong Thinh said the Government must do more to support the business community, saying it is an important factor in maintaining social and economic security. He, however, added inspection and oversight of support policies must be thorough to prevent waste and corruption.

Head of the General Department of Taxation Cao Anh Tuan said reviews had been conducted by his department to gauge the damage caused by the pandemic to the business sector and local tax offices have been instructed to submit reports on if and how the pandemic has affected businesses under their jurisdiction.

The department has also established online channels to answer tax-related questions, carried out administrative reforms and simplified the inspection process to support businesses./.

VNA

Farmers urged to use high-tech practices to enter global value chains

February 25, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

Dragon fruit cultivation in Long An province (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNS/VNA) – Farming households in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta need to apply high-tech practices to develop value-added agricultural products that can enter global value chains, Le Minh Hoan, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, has said.

Hoan said it was vital to offer incentives and loans to farmers who use sustainable and climate-friendly production processes.

Millions of small-scale farming households , which are the most critically affected by climate change, need access to innovative technologies and practices as well as market information.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global supply chains, posing risks to farmers and exporters of farm produce. The most affected products have been fresh fruits, vegetables and aquatic products, according to the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

To cope with the outbreak, major firms including the Loc Troi Group, Vingroup, PAN Group and Hoang Anh Gia Lai, have invested in high-tech applications.

Firms are also working with cooperatives and farming households to create “clean and safe food sources”. They are training farmers in brand management and offering technical and seed support to improve quality control during processing and before harvesting.

In the future, the Mekong Delta will face a growing population and rising urbanisation. Pollution, landslides, coastal erosion and loss of natural forest land are all expected to increase.

Because arable land and harvests will shrink worldwide, productivity and a sufficient supply of quality food must increase, while natural resources remain protected.

Since more than 70 percent of Vietnam’s agricultural products are from 22 million smallholder farmers, local agri-businesses should not depend solely on major corporations to promote innovative solutions, experts have said.

Other challenges include farmers’ limited capital. Switching to high-tech agriculture requires a considerable up-front investment.

Another major issue is market and consumer confidence. Building brands and winning customer confidence are essential for Vietnamese brands so they can take advantage of major export markets like the EU under the new EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

According to the White Book on Vietnamese Businesses 2020, the Mekong Delta currently has more than 55,000 enterprises, accounting for only 7.26 percent of the country’s total number.

Most of the businesses in the Mekong Delta region are small and medium-sized, and most lack long-term business strategies in technology investment, human resources training, and branding.

Amid deep global integration, Vietnamese products face strong competition from foreign-made goods.

Solutions must be identified, especially for smallholder farmers, to apply technology so they can enter mass markets. But it will take time to change farmers’ methods that have existed for hundreds of years, experts said.

Nguyen Minh Hai, deputy chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), said that exporters should continue to take advantage of the EVFTA to boost agricultural products such as rice, seafood and fruit.

As many as 39 Vietnamese Geographical Indications (GIs) exist in the EU, providing an adequate framework for further promotion of imports of quality products, he said.

The EU maintains some of the highest sanitary, phytosanitary, origin tracing and sustainable standards in the world. Hai said that exporters should raise local standards and develop new value-added products to compete internationally, particularly in the EU with its population of 450 million.

The elimination of tariffs under the EVFTA is expected to benefit farm produce from the Mekong Delta , but technical barriers to trade will be raised, imposing challenges for products and services.

The Mekong Delta region contributes 54 percent of rice output, 70 percent of aquaculture output and 60 percent of fruit output to the country’s total output./.

VNA

Vietnam applies for UN Human Rights Council membership

February 25, 2021 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – The UN Human Rights Committee notes Vietnam’s efforts to comply with its Covenant obligations, but incompatibility still remains between its legal framework and the Covenant.

Vietnam has announced its postulation to the UN Human Rights Council as ASEAN candidate for the 2023-25 term.

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh at the UN Human Rights Council’s session on February 22. Photo: Baoquocte

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Pham Binh Minh told an online high-level meeting of the Geneva-based Rights Council’s 46th Regular Session held this week.

He claimed that the state fully protects “human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Human rights and freedoms can be protected and promoted only when a country defends itself against the Covid-19 pandemic, Minh said.

He argued that protecting people in the pandemic is the best way to ensure that each and every member of the society can fully enjoy their human rights.

Minh stressed that the country continues protecting and promoting all human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people, even in this most difficult of times.

The application will place Vietnam in competition with candidates from other countries in the UN’s Asia-Pacific representational grouping.

The UN Human Rights Committee in March 2019 issued its “concluding observations”, making recommendations to Vietnam on how it can strengthen its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The concluding observations were made after Vietnam submitted its third report to the UN Human Rights Committee, the body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the treaty. The Committee examined the report and engaged in a constructive dialogue with Vietnam in Geneva, Switzerland. The Human Rights Committee has requested Vietnam to report within two years on the steps it has taken to implement the recommendations.

The Committee notes Vietnam’s efforts to comply with its Covenant obligations, including through the revision of certain legislation, however the country should further review its domestic legal framework to identify gaps and conflicts with the Covenant, ensuring that all Covenant rights are given full legal effect in its domestic legal order.