Vietnam community transmission

Diageo Vietnam is one of the first businesses in the country joining hands with Tuoi Tre (Youth Newspaper) to help up to ten thousand of frontline workers who work at medical centers, hospitals and centrally quarantine centers in Vietnam, to get vaccinated for free this year.

Having launched at the end of February, following the success of the 1-year long campaign “Preventing Covid-19 with Tuoi Tre”, the campaign aims to raise funds from individuals, organizations, and businesses for such a meaningful and highly practical activity. Through this tangible contribution, Diageo Vietnam demonstrates its commitment to joining hands with Vietnamese people to combat Covid-19, while facilitating safety for local communities in the new normal.

Throughout 2020, Vietnam has marked its name in the global map as a success story of keeping Covid-19 transmission under control and mitigating the pandemic’s adverse effect on all socioeconomic aspects. Strict quarantine and contact tracing measures alongside medical prevention and treatment efforts, empowered by the strong consensus between the Government and people across the country, have proven their values and helped Vietnam make the miracle.

The success of disease prevention and control activities in Vietnam lies in the ability to mobilize extensive resources and connect individuals and organizations under the same cause, which is to prevent Covid outbreak and protect the community. Those noble qualities have inspired companies like Diageo Vietnam to take bold moves and contribute their part.

Mr. Jos Duursema, Chief Operating Officer of Diageo Vietnam said: “ As a British business operating in Vietnam, we are proud to accompany and support the local communities in every possible way to protect their well-being and promote sustainable development for the country. Diageo Vietnam hopes to secure more opportunities to access effective prevention and treatment of Covid-19, hence empowers Vietnamese people with the freedom to live a healthy and successful life.”

The sense of values and purposes guides Diageo’s business operations and social activities on a global scale. Last June in Vietnam, Diageo Vietnam partnered with the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front to present the Ministry of Health with 18,600 hand sanitizer bottles worth VND670 million, alongside its campaign “Clean Serve by Diageo” which provided sanitizing kits and guidelines for more than 315 bars and clubs across the country. Under the campaign’s framework, Diageo hosted a much-anticipated livestreaming session, where the brand’s ambassador shared advice and tips to more than 2,000 participants on how to maintain hygiene and secure experience as they serve customers.

PV

The Deputy PM, who is also head of the Steering Committee, stressed that safety must be as high as possible and that if something goes wrong it must be handled calmly.

Though COVID-19 has been largely brought under control in Vietnam, relevant agencies must continue to maintain readiness and vigilance, he said.

Deputy PM Dam called on people to strictly follow the Ministry of Health’s “5K” message: Khau trang (facemasks) – Khu khuan (disinfecting) – Khoang cach (distancing) – Khong tu tap (no gathering) – Khai bao y te (health declaration).

Schools, health facilities, factories, markets, supermarkets, and accommodation establishments, he went on, need to actively self-assess their safety level in disease prevention and control and update information on the COVID-19 Safe Living Map System (www.antoancovid.vn).

He praised the efforts of the ministry in accessing foreign sources of COVID-19 vaccines and promoting vaccine research and production in the country.

The Ministry of Health is responsible for organising vaccinations in a safe and effective manner and promoting communications to raise public awareness.

He underlined the need to accelerate domestic vaccine research, production, and testing, noting that these must comply with all steps in the fastest time possible.

Vietnam is expected to have sufficient vaccines for 100 million people if research and development is successful, he said, adding that this is an opportunity for the country to lift its vaccine research capacity to a new level, enabling it to respond to other diseases that may strike in the future.

The Deputy PM also ordered the Ministry of Health to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to urgently build and issue relevant instructions and guidelines to create favourable conditions for those that have been given COVID-19 vaccines abroad to enter Vietnam.

Addressing the ceremony, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Women’s Union Central Committee Ha Thi Nga said that the noble award was named after Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaia and was introduced to Vietnam in 1985.

This is an international award dedicated to female scientists in recognition of their significant contribution toscientific research and in the application of science and technology, especially the natural sciences, an area playing a key role in the knowledge economy.

Over the past 35 years, the Kovalevskaia Award has been presented to 20 female collectives and 49 individuals in the areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, medicine, information technology, and others.

“The contributions of collectives and individuals who have won the Kovalevskaia Award demonstrate the talent, ability, creativity and wisdom of Vietnamese female scientists on their way to conquering many scientificheights,” said Ha Thi Nga.

At the ceremony, the Kovalevskaia Awards 2020 were presented to the female collective at the Institute of Natural Products Chemistry (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) and Associate Professor-Doctor Truong Thanh Huong, Senior Lecturer in the Cardiology Department at the Hanoi Medical University (Ministry of Health) for their contributions to the nation’s scientific community.

Truong Thanh Huong has made considerablecontributions to the national health sector thanks to her research projects aimed at improving treatment methods for cardiovascular- diseases.

Meanwhile, products formed from the results of scientific research projects by the Institute of Natural Products Chemistry have been widely circulated in the market, contributing to public health care and protection.

In Gia Loc district in Hai Duong province on March 2, the roads were very quiet even though in a few hours the social isolation order would expire (at 0:00 on March 3).

Somewhere in the fields were farmers who were still doing their daily work. For them, their fields must be taken care of every day.

With more than 93,000 hectares of agricultural land, accounting for 56.5% of the total area, Hai Duong is among provinces with a large agricultural production area. Its main agricultural products are vegetables, fruits, livestock and poultry.

Before the pandemic, the biggest difficulty for local farmers was the connection between producers and consumers. During the pandemic, because of the blockade and restriction of means of travel, the difficulties multiplied.

Born into a family with a farming tradition, like many previous generations, the life of Mr. Do Van Chung (a resident of Quang Bi village, Pham Tran commune, Gia Loc district, Hai Duong) has been associated with the field.

Chung’s family grows vegetables such as kohlrabi, cabbage, cauliflower, gourd, squash, melon and others, with an average output of about 2 tons per acre and yield VND7-8 million ($300-400) per acre each year.

As Hai Duong was under isolation, the transport of farm produce from Hai Duong to other provinces was affected. Earning his living by cultivating vegetables for many years, Chung complained that he has never faced such difficulties. In previous years, he harvested 4 tons of cabbage and earned VND14-16 million from two sao (1 sao = 360m2) of cultivation area. But he cannot find buyers and is not sure if he can earn VND2 million from each sao.

Mr. Phung Danh Ut, the owner of Ut Them organic melon garden in Gia Loc district, was luckier than Chung as he had signed a melon sales contract with a local agricultural cooperative.

In addition to growing melons in a net house, the farmer also grows kohlrabi and cabbage. Though he was able to sell his agricultural produce, his profit dropped because the prices of agricultural products this year are not as good as in previous years, and consumption is also sluggish.

To solve the problem, Hai Duong provincial authorities decided to utilize IT to boost the distribution of products. Some groups have been set up on Zalo, with the participation of farmers and businesses inside and outside the province. Farmers can advertise their products on these groups to find buyers. Thanks to these “bridges”, hundreds of tons of vegetables, fruits and poultry in Hai Duong have been sold to the market.

In order to fully solve the problem of Hai Duong’s agricultural produce, a delegation of Viettel Post Corporation led by General Director Tran Trung Hung paid a field visit to Hai Duong to observe the consumption of agricultural products in the area.

Based on its strong delivery services, Viettel Post is trying to help Hai Duong farmers to change the way of selling their products by using digital technology. This can be performed through its Voso e-commerce platform.

Viettel Post uses a smart logistics system which delivers vegetables directly to consumers within a short time after harvesting to ensure the freshness of produce. The consumption of agricultural produces in this way will help stabilize the output for the farmer. The value that farmers receive will also be higher thanks to direct access to the end users. This is considered the most effective solution to solve the root of the common “problem” for Vietnamese farmers.

Trong Dat