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This is the highest February CPI growth recorded in the last eight years.

However, the index in the first two months decreased 0.14% year-on-year.

Compared to the previous month, an upturn was seen in the prices of ten out of 11 main groups of goods and services, with housing and construction materials taking the lead (4%). It was followed by food and catering services (1.61%); transport (1.55%); drinking and tobacco (0.9%); garment and textile, headwear and footwear (0.25%).

The price of education services remained stable compared to the previous month.

The GSO’s Price Statistics Department explained that the CPI in February saw a strong rise due to the higher demand for food and foodstuffs for the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

The prices of medicine and medical supplies in January-February increased by 0.88% compared to the same period last year, the price of gas in the month climbed 3.05% year-on-year.

There were a number of reasons for the decrease in CPI in the last two months. The petrol and oil prices decreased by 15.78% year-on-year while the electricity price in January fell by 16.88% over the same period last year, making the average electricity price in the first two months of 2021 down by 9.95%.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for travel and tourism decreased compared to the same period last year. On average, in the last two months, the air ticket price dropped by 35.65%, train fares down 12.39%; and tour prices decreased by 4.99%.

At the same time, domestic gold price in February was up 0.25% over the previous month, while that of US dollar was around 23,145 VND per USD, down 0.17% month-on-month and 0.76% year-on-year.

GSO said the core inflation in February, which is CPI excluding grain food, fresh foodstuff, energy and the State-managed medical and educational services, increased by 0.48% from the previous month, and 0.79% compared to one year ago.

The two-month core inflation grew by 0.64% year-on-year.

The core inflation rates in February and the first two months of 2021 compared to the same periods last year were the lowest in the past five years.

The country’s trade turnover during January-February topped some US$95.81 billion, a year-on-year surge of 25.4%. Of the total, exports amounted to US$48.55 billion, a yearly hike of 23.2%, while imports were estimated at US$47.26 billion, or 25.9% higher than the same time last year.

Foreign-invested companies accounted for 76.4%, or US$37.07 billion, of Vietnam’s total export turnover. Meanwhile, the domestic sector shipped abroad US$11.48 billion worth of products.

There were nine commodities joining the billion-USD export club, including telephones and parts (US$9.3 billion, up 22.8% year-on-year); electronics, computers and parts (US$6.9 billion, up 27.3%); equipment, machines and parts (US$5.5 billion, up 72.6%); footwear (US$3.2 billion, up 15.4%); and wood and wooden products (US$2.4 billion, up 51%). They made up 73% of the country’s export turnover.

Vietnam also saw strong surge in shipments of several agricultural products, such as fruits and vegetables (US$610 million, rising 14.6%), rubber (US$516 million, increasing 109.7%), cashew (US$442 million, up 21.5%), and cassava (US$256 million, hiking 78.2%).

The US was Vietnam’s biggest importer as it splashed out US$14.2 billion on Vietnamese products, or 38.2% higher than the amount it spent the same time last year. China came second with US$8.5 billion, followed by the EU with 6.3 billion, ASEAN US$4.2 billion, the Republic of Korea US$3.4 billion, and Japan US$3.2 billion.

Meanwhile, the country spent big (US$47.26 billion) on imports, with foreign-invested sector purchasing US$31.64 billion worth of products from abroad for production, up 31.4%, while that of the domestic sector surged 16% to US$15.62 billion.

In the two-month period, China was the largest exporter of Vietnam, with revenue estimated at US$17.3 billion, up 85.7% year-on-year, followed by the Republic of Korea with US$8.4 billion, ASEAN US$5.6 billion, Japan US$3.1 billion, EU US$2.3 billion, and the US US$2.1 billion.

In a bid to support local firms in promoting production and exports, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that it will work to capitalise on opportunities from the signed free trade agreements to seek measures for market development. Additionally, it will keep close watch on the global market to identify key export products, while paying due heed to penning measures for market development.

Such enterprises are expected to hire about nearly 57,000 workers, down 22.1% compared with the same period in 2020.

The first two months of 2021 saw the new establishment of over 18,000 firms, down 4% year on year, with a total number of registered workers of 173,000. The number of enterprises resuming operations was 11,033 (down 7.6%).

Additional registered capital in the economy was estimated to have reached over VND720.4 trillion (over US$31.2 billion) in the first two months of this year, up 12.4%.

The average capital of new companies was VND18.5 billion (over US$801,621), up 46.4%.

>>> The health sector reforms strongly and comprehensively to better serve the people

>>> Third wave of coronavirus in Vietnam likely to end by late March

From the first cases of COVID-19 infections being detected, under the direction of the Party, the Government and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the health sector has actively coordinated with the relevant ministries, agencies and localities in carrying out drastic, vigorous, prompt and effective epidemic prevention and control measures. The sector has proactively advised and built fully and in detail documents and professional instructions, while always preparing adequate human resources, equipment, drugs, materials and chemicals to ensure the work is effective. Outbreaks were quickly zoned and handled in a timely manner, leading to the number of infections totalling a very small number compared to the population size.

The health sector perseveres with its policy of isolating close contacts and taking samples from them to immediately remove pathogens from the community and prevent the spread of infection. Vietnam’s quarantine mechanism is designed in detail to ensure that all infected, suspected infected and close contacts are isolated. In addition to requiring everyone to be centrally isolated for at least 14 days upon entry into the country, from the very beginning, the four-ring quarantine mechanism has been implemented, helping cut off and effectively prevent outbreaks in a relatively short space of time.

The pandemic control has also shown the growth of Vietnam’s testing system. As of February 2021, Vietnam had carried out COVID19 testing on more than 2.2 million samples in 96 confirmed units. Such testing capacity can completely respond to epidemic outbreaks on a large scale.

In terms of treatment, the division of subjects for effective treatment has been strictly maintained, helping prevent too many positive cases from flocking to major hospitals. COVID-19 infected cases found in any locality are treated by local physicians. The Ministry of Health also continuously updates treatment regimens and establishes remote examination and treatment systems with leading experts supporting the lower levels, along with rapid response mobile teams. To date, many district health facilities have received and treated COVID-19 patients, helping many recover from the deadly disease.

Precision in logistics is also an important factor helping Vietnam defeat the pandemic. The health sector has coordinated with the concerned ministries, agencies and localities to proactively prepare the necessary logistics, including all medical equipment, consumables, biological products, face masks and protective equipment to form a solid premise for the epidemic response. A lot of domestically produced equipment has been donated to other countries in the spirit of a joint effort to fight COVID-19.

From February 2020, when the first COVID-19 infections appeared in Vietnam, experts from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology successfully cultured and isolated the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their labs. Vietnam became one of four countries in the world at that time able to do this. It helped identify “the enemy” while at the same time was a prerequisite for the research and development of testing products as well as vaccines for disease prevention.

Notably, up to now, Vietnam has four manufacturers participating in the research and production of COVID-19 vaccines, of which three have developed official products (one having been put into Phase 2 of clinical trials with two others in preparation for Phase 1). It is expected that in early 2022, Vietnam will have an official home-grown COVID-19 vaccine to put into use, helping it hold the initiative in the fight against COVID-19.

Over the past year, the “four onsite” anti-epidemic motto (on-site command, on-site forces, on-site equipment and materials, and on-site logistics) has always been focussed upon and achieved good results. In addition to the National Steering Committee, there are 63 Steering Committees for the prevention and fight against COVID-19 at provincial and municipal levels, while district, commune, and ward levels have mobilised all departments, branches and units concerned to participate in the fight to ensure the comprehensive implementation of epidemic prevention measures proposed by Steering Committees and suitable for local conditions. On the other hand, the community-based COVID-19 response model is also a unique one. Tens of thousands of such groups have been established in localities across the nation and have brought into full play the combined strength of local government and the consciousness of the people in quickly stopping outbreaks.

“Unprecedented” solutions deployed by the health sector in response to the COVID-19 epidemic have brought about great results. Hundreds of physicians, leading experts at the top national institutes and hospitals, such as National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Bach Mai Hospital, National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hanoi Medical University Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital, have been sent to hot spots in Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Dien Bien and Hai Duong. Some medical centres, even sports complexes, have been turned into field hospitals to receive COVID-19 patients for treatment. Continuous nationwide online medical conferences with the participation of leading experts from across the country have been organised, providing timely professional support to lower level doctors and promptly helping many critically-ill COVID-19 patients recover.

The battle against COVID-19 will continue, but with the health sector’s maturity and its accumulated anti-epidemic experience, we can once again believe that victory belongs to Vietnam.

Authorities in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap have taken prompt and assertive measures to contain the risk of COVID-19 spread from two border jumpers recently.

On the afternoon of February 23, two Vietnamese women left Phnom Penh and entered Vietnamese illegally via an illicit racket’s service.

By 9:00 pm the same day, they had made it to Sa Rai Town, located in Tan Hong District, Dong Thap, and stayed at a local hotel.

The two border jumpers were unaware they had been detected by local residents, who later reported the case to police’s quick response team.

Officers arrived at the hotel within the next hour, but only one of the two women was at the venue.

She was brought to a collective quarantine facility and was confirmed as the country’s COVID-19 patient No. 2,424 on February 26.

Meanwhile, the other woman had already got on a long-haul coach to travel to Ho Chi Minh City.

The coach operator was quickly informed of the case, and the driver was directed to turn the vehicle around.

She was then taken to a centralized quarantine center and had her samples collected for COVID-19 testing.

Her test result came back negative for the novel coronavirus.

A quick response team for COVID-19 prevention and control holds a meeting in Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Photo: Thai Thuan / Tuoi Tre

“Thanks to the rapid response, the two women had not been able to travel to other places, while the number of their direct contacts was limited,” said Doan Tan Buu, vice-chairman of the Dong Thap People’s Committee, who is also deputy head of the provincial steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control.

“The risk of the virus spread was therefore minimized.”

The province has established many quick response teams consisting of police officers and health workers to fight against the pandemic.

Aside from the effort of these quick response teams, which work around the clock, local residents also play a very important role in rapidly detecting border jumpers and containing COVID-19 transmission in the community, Buu stated.

Vietnam has recorded 2,423 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday morning, with 1,844 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

A total of 837 community-based infections have been reported in the country since January 27, most in Hai Duong Province in the northern region.

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