Why trillion dollar deficits could be the new normal

COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Health has proposed considering COVID-19 a Group A infectious disease , not an endemic disease in its latest draft on COVID-19 prevention and control measures in the new situation. Per the draft, Vietnam is still in the transition period between pandemic prevention and sustainable management. Regarding the reason why COVID-19 has not been considered an endemic disease in Vietnam yet, the Ministry of Health said that most countries in the world are in a state of unstable cases and deaths, with an erratic increase and decrease trend when new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus appear. At the same time, acquired immunity (due to vaccines and infection) has not been stable for a long time and decreases over time. As a result, the application of epidemic prevention and control measures should be flexible and gradually moves towards the "new normal". The announcement of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in … [Read more...] about Health Ministry yet to consider COVID-19 endemic disease

Vietnam will keep a close eye on the emergence of new strains. Vietnam has detected imported BA.5 Omicron sub-variant after conducting gene sequencing of newly confirmed patients' samples, according to Dr. Phan Trong Lan, director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health (MoH). Lan underscored that initial research showed the Omicron sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5 spread faster than the old sub-variants (BA.1 and BA.2). There has been no specific evidence of the new sub-variants’ virulence, but some studies indicated that there is an aggravation in the African region. However,  the director confirmed that Omicron sub-variant BA.2 still remains the dominant one in the country. “The emergence of new strains is inevitable as a result of border reopening and the new normal situation, in which precautionary protocols are relaxed,” Lan said. He added that the BA.5 sub-variant was first detected in South Africa in January. Since then, it has … [Read more...] about BA.5 Omicron sub-variant detected in Vietnam

Administering the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to medical staff in the northern province of Ninh Bình. — VNA/VNS Photo Hải Yến HÀ NỘI — If Việt Nam declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, it will meet many difficulties in pandemic prevention and control and be hit by slower economic recovery, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has said. Under the latest draft plan on COVID-19 prevention and control in the new situation, which is waiting for input from the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control, ministries, provinces, cities and experts, the MoH said that the pandemic situation has basically been controlled nationwide. However, the pandemic situation is still complicated in many countries and is even increasing again in some. The virus is constantly changing and recording new variants, which could potentially cause a strong outbreak on a large scale, beyond the health system’s capacity. Latent risks The SARS-CoV-2 virus has constantly … [Read more...] about Ministry of Health explains reasons for not announcing end of COVID-19 pandemic

The department reported that the province has disbursed nearly 4.4 trillion VND (189 million USD) of the 16.28 trillion VND (700.2 million USD) of total public investment it has been allocated for the whole year. Earlier, the province set a target of disbursing 50 percent of the total capital by June 30, 80 percent by September 30 and 100 percent by December 31. To fulfill its tasks for the year, Quang Ninh has rolled out a number of measures to remove difficulties facing business and production activities, speed up the disbursement of public investment capital, and ensure social security in the post-pandemic period. Along with asking investors to focus on speeding up their projects, the province has accelerated investment procedures for 12 new projects with combined capital of over 2.19 trillion VND, as well as the national target programme on new-style rural area building. At the same time, it has worked to shorten times for administrative procedures, while speeding up ground … [Read more...] about Quang Ninh sees slow disbursement of public investment capital

In the first six months of 2022, Vietnam Airlines has resumed flights to 14 countries and territories, including the UK, France, Germany, Australia, the US, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Lately, the airline has opened a new route to India and is preparing the necessary conditions to immediately reopen flights to China, Myanmar, and Russia when the conditions permit. The national carrier is expected to resume flights to Indonesia in July and key international routes to Japan, Korea, and Australia in November at the same flight frequency as in 2019. It hopes that it will be able to restore the entire international flight network, equivalent to that in 2019 by the end of 2023. The gradual restoration of international flight routes is an opportunity for Vietnam Airlines to improve the usage efficiency of resources, increase revenue, improve production and business results, reduce losses, and aim at profits in the following years. … [Read more...] about Vietnam Airlines plans to restore its entire flight network by the end of 2023

As much as 755.75 million USD in FDI was poured into Hai Phong city in the first half of this year. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The northern city of Hai Phong has attracted 755.75 million USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) to local industrial parks (IPs) and economic zones (EZs) in the first half of 2022, raising total FDI there to 22.07 billion USD. According to the Hai Phong EZ Authority, the amount was channelled into 21 new FDI projects and 18 existing ones. It is equivalent to 56.2% of the FDI registered in the same period last year. At present, IPs and EZs in the city are home to 438 FDI projects worth 22.07 billion USD in total and 195 domestic investment projects worth 12.57 billion USD. Head of the authority Le Trung Kien said from now to 2025, the 15 IPs in the city will be expanded to 6,418ha from the current 6,074ha. The latest of them is Tien Thanh IP, for which an infrastructure construction and business project recently received an … [Read more...] about Hai Phong attracts more foreign direct investment in H1