The Government will spend an additional VND14.62 trillion (US$635 million) on the fight against Covid-19, according to a document signed on September 9 by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai. 

The money is sourced from savings of the State budget for 2021.

In the first eight months of 2021, the Government spent VND18.8 trillion (US$827 million) on the pandemic fight. 

On the same day, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs decided new allowances to children suffering from the pandemic. The financial support is applied for the April-December period.

Vietnam has pursued a policy that testing and treating confirmed coronavirus cases are free of charge.

In the latest move, the PM on September 9 agreed that businesses are allowed to take Covid-19 tests themselves and responsible for the results. It enables them to be active in coping with the pandemic and ease the pressure of crowd gathering for testing.

Covid relief 

A Polish military airplane carrying eight tons of medical equipment is scheduled to land in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City today to support the pandemic fight there. On August 21, a batch of 500,000 Poland-donated vaccine doses arrived in Hanoi.

On the same day, a batch of 866,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses donated by Japan arrived in Hanoi, according to Dan Tri.

To date, Japan has donated Vietnam three million vaccine doses that arrived in Vietnam in mostly in July. In addition to vaccines, the Japanese Government has provided Vietnam with cold chains and vaccine delivery.

In another move, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long on September 9 held phone talks with Ma Xiaowei, Minister of the Chinese National Health Commission regarding Covid-19 prevention and control.

Hohn Reilly and Nina McCoy, American nationals, get vaccinated in Hanoi on September 9. Photo: Khanh Huy/ The Hanoi Times

Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has built economic recovery plans with a focus on relaxation for people holding the “green Covid-19 certificate.”

It means that people who are fully vaccinated, those infected with Covid-19 within six months, discharged Covid-19 patients, and fully vaccinated aged below 65 without underlying diseases are subject to go shopping in supermarkets, to hospitals and schools, and for domestic work trips under Directive 16 and to join public activities, go to school and to work, for tourism, and domestic and international work trips under Directive 15.

The move is part of HCMC’s recovery plans preparing for some relaxation after September 15 that the city’s leaders are striving for.

So far, it has allowed takeaways in some safe zones.

Hanoi, meanwhile, is racing against time to vaccinate residents to fulfill the target of offering the first jabs to adults aged above 18 before September 15.

About 4,000 health workers from surrounding areas came to the city to support the inoculation campaign and massive testing in the city of nine million people. The health sector offers shots even at nighttime.

Today, Vietnam reported 12,420 infections and 272 deaths, lifting the tally to 576,096 and 14,470, respectively. Vietnam has recorded an average of 310 deaths per day over the past week. Its death rate is 2.5% compared to the world’s average of 2.1%.

Vietnam's Covid-19 cases. Source: MoH. Chart: Minh Vu