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Britain, Germany and Italy detected cases of the new Omicron coronavirus variant on Saturday and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new steps to contain the virus, while more nations imposed restrictions on travel from southern Africa. The discovery of the variant has sparked global concern, a wave of travel bans or curbs and a sell-off on financial markets on Friday as investors worried that Omicron could stall a global recovery from the nearly two-year pandemic. Israel said it would ban the entry of all foreigners into the country and reintroduce counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology to contain the spread of the variant. The two linked cases of Omicron detected in Britain were connected to travel to southern Africa, British health minister Sajid Javid said. Johnson laid out measures that included stricter testing rules for people arriving in the country but that stopped short of curbs on social activity other than requiring mask wearing in some settings. … [Read more...] about UK, Germany and Italy detect Omicron variant cases, Israel closes borders

Demand for industrial, logistics estates at core of enquiries next year: Savills Demand for industrial and logistics estates in addition to ready-built factories and warehouses will continue to be the core of enquiries next year, according to an expert from property consultancy Savills Vietnam. “However, in terms of new trends, data centres and cold storage facilities are in demand and have gained traction in 2020 and 2021,” John Campbell, manager of Industrial Services at Savills Vietnam told the Vietnam Investment Review. “Next year, we expect this to continue, as Vietnam is now on the radar for hyperscale facilities.” Low-value industries are beginning to set up elsewhere in Southeast Asia as Vietnam no longer offers the same incentives, he said, adding that these industries such as textiles and furniture struggle to source affordable labour and land in Vietnam. However, foreign and high value-added investors remain bullish on Vietnam’s long-term growth, … [Read more...] about VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS NOVEMBER 23

The United States has additionally offered Vietnam over two million Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine jabs, bringing its total donations to the Southeast Asian country to more than 18 million doses. “Another shipment of 2,074,410 doses of Pfizer vaccine arrived in Hanoi early this morning,” the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam said in its verified Facebook page on Friday. The U.S. has so far donated over 18 million vaccine doses to Vietnam through COVAX as part of its steadfast commitment to support Vietnam in the fight against COVID-19, the embassy said. “And more are on the way!” it added. The two countries have cooperated to improve Vietnam’s capacity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on their long-term cooperative relationship, according to the embassy. The U.S. has aided nearly US$1 billion to Vietnam over the past years for develop health infrastructure development, and the former has also committed $26.7 million as support for Vietnam to respond to the pandemic. In … [Read more...] about US donates two million more COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam

The United States has given Vietnam over two million more Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses, bringing its total vaccine donations to the Southeast Asian country past 20.5 million shots. “2,075,580 Pfizer vaccine doses were successfully delivered to Ho Chi Minh City,” the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said on its verified Facebook account on Saturday. This latest shipment followed 2,074,410 doses of the same vaccine which were sent to Hanoi on Friday. “We will keep working with Vietnam as a trusted partner to beat back COVID-19,” the embassy said, adding the total vaccine donations from the U.S. have surpassed 20.5 million jabs. Based on their long-term cooperative relationship, the two countries have worked together to improve Vietnam’s capacity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the embassy said. Along with nearly US$1 billion provided to Vietnam over the past years for health infrastructure development, the U.S. has also committed $26.7 million as support for Vietnam to deal with … [Read more...] about US donates 2 more million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam

Many South Korean travel agencies expressed their desire to bring visitors from their country to Da Nang and Quang Nam at the end of this year after the two Vietnamese localities announced a plan to welcome back international tourists, given the approval by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. On Monday, authorities in Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, and Quang Nam held a joint webinar to promote tourism aimed at the South Korean market. Nam Dukhyun, representative of CH Commons Company, said that South Korean tourists have had a change in demand and spending behaviors. A recent survey on travel options showed that a tour package of one to four days is preferred by up to 66 percent of South Koreans. Some 53 percent of South Korean tourists are fond of leisure travel, while 43 percent enjoy visiting family and friends, and 22 percent choose outdoor sports. Tourist attractions that embrace a closed tourism model without outside contact and are close to nature will … [Read more...] about Vietnam to develop new tourism products for South Korean vacationers

National carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) will operate two direct flights between Vietnam and the United States each week, with the first plane scheduled to take off on Sunday evening. Flight VN98 carrying 150 passengers will depart Ho Chi Minh City and head for San Francisco at 8:40 pm on Sunday. This will be the first time ever for a Vietnamese airline to operate a direct commercial flight between Vietnam and the U.S.. VNA previously received a foreign air operator certificate issued by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on November 16, which allowed the carrier to run regular direct flights to the States. In order to obtain the certificate, the airline had worked with nine U.S. agencies for about 15 months to complete the procedures, VNA's CEO Le Hong Ha told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper in an interview. The airline will run two direct flights between Vietnam and the U.S. each week, using the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, Ha continued. The flight from … [Read more...] about Vietnam Airlines to operate 2 direct flights between Vietnam and US each week: CEO