Two runway upgrade projects at two major airports in Vietnam were initiated on Monday morning.

A ceremony was organized in Hanoi to mark the commencement of the two projects with the attendance of Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh.

The project at Noi Bai International Airport in the capital, which costs VND2,031 billion (US$88 million), will focus on upgrading two runways, namely 11L/29R (1A) and 11R/29L (1B).

The 1A runway measures 3,200 meters long and 45 meters wide, while the 1B runway is 3,800 meters long and 45 meters wide.

The existing layer of asphalt along the runways will be scrapped off so that their concrete surface can be repaired, before a layer of reinforced concrete, at least 38cm thick, is added.

The project developer will also build three new taxiways and renovate nine existing taxiways at the airdrome.

The project will include the construction of an instrumental landing system (ILS) at the beginning of each runway.

The first phase of the project is expected to take six months, and the 1B runway will resume its operations ahead of the 2021 Lunar New Year.

The second phase will last one year and be finished prior to the 2022 Lunar New Year.

Costing VND2,015 billion ($87 million), the project at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City will include the upgrade of the 25R/07L runway and the construction of three new taxiways.

The developer will build components for flight management, signal lights, signal paints, drainage systems, and other auxiliary works.

The first phase of the project will be carried out in six months, while the second phase will last for 14 months.

The upgrade projects are necessary as the runways of the two airports have been degraded over the past years, especially since 2017 when the two venues started receiving bigger aircraft such as the A350-900, B787-9 and B787-10, according to Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan.

The projects will make sure Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai reach their goals of welcoming 44 million and 50 million passengers per year, respectively, by 2025, Tuan added.

This article was originally published in Tuoitrenews

The current heat wave scorches Hanoi since early morning, with the highest temperature hitting 38-39 degrees Celsius.

Scorching heat is attacking Hanoi, with temperature likely surging to 38-39 degrees Celsius, and is forecast to last until June 25, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (NCHMF) has said.

The NCHMF said that Foehn wind, caused by impact of the southeastern edge of the western hot low-pressure area, is causing hot weather across the northern region, with temperatures ranging from 38 to 42 degrees Celsius, and even higher in some places.

The current heat wave scorches Hanoi since early morning, with the highest temperature hitting 38-39 degrees Celsius. It is even expected to surge to 41 degrees Celsius tomorrow, according to the NCHMF.

The center warned that the ultraviolet index in Hanoi city today will remain at the dangerous levels of 8 and 9, posing a high risk of skin damage, including skin cancer, for people exposed to the sun for a long time. Thus, people on the road are recommended to apply SPF 30+ sunscreen, wear a shirt, sunglasses and a hat.

The center’s experts warned that people should prevent probable fire in residential areas as well as wildfire, avoid outdoor activities from 11:00am to 4:00pm, drink water and take proper diet to enhance the immune system.

They also said that as June is still the transitional period from spring to summer, there is a collision between hot and cold waves, so extreme weather may occur such as tornadoes, hail and strong wind in the thunderstorm.

The wide-spread heat wave in the Northern and Central provinces is expected to last longer in the Northwest, the western mountainous areas of the North Central region, and Central and South-Central provinces.

This summer, some parts across Vietnam would see the mercury climbing up to 39-40 degree Celsius, and the temperatures at some points may hit record levels, according to the NCHMF.

This article was originally published in Hanoitimes

Schools in Hanoi city are requested to implement rules on Covid-19 prevention and respond promptly to any health incidents related to the pandemic.

Preschool children and elementary students in Hanoi have returned to schools after a theee-month break due to the risk of Covid-19 infection, Kinhtedothi.vn reported.

The schools have been disinfected many times and the teaching plans are adjusted to suit the pandemic evolution.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training Pham Xuan Tien said that his department has issued detailed guidances to educational institutions in the city about Covid-19 prevention and control.

Schools in the city are requested to implement the regulations on Covid-19 prevention and respond promptly to any health incidents related to the pandemic.

Besides, training and operation plans have been changed. Today’s first lesson is about activities to provide knowledge and anti-Covid-19 skills for all students.

All the pending teaching contents must be delivered before July 15.

Hanoi schools have discussed online with parents to agree on the scenario of taking and picking up children on weekdays, as recommended by the Ministry of Health and the municipal authorities.

Some schools have still recommended that parents should let their children wear face masks while in classes and prepare them personal amenities.

Not all students would have lunch at the same time but in shift to avoid gathering. They are asked to avoid contact with others of different classes.

On May 10 afternoon, inspection teams of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training reviewed schools in the city to support their teaching plans and taking care of students with a view to ensuring a safe return to school.

Source: Hanoitimes

All bus routes in Hà Nội have resumed operation from Monday, but each bus must not have more than 30 people on board, including passengers, drivers and conductors, according to the city’s Department of Transport.

The city bus system was suspended during the national social distancing period lasting from April 1 to 22.

About 20 to 30 per cent of the routes resumed between April 23 and 30 after social distancing policies were eased.

Thái Hồ Phương, deputy director of the Hà Nội Public Transport Management and Operation Centre said all buses must be sanitised before departure and arrival every day, and have hand sanitisers and waste baskets with covers on board.

All bus staff and passengers must wear face masks.

“The number of people on each bus must not exceed 30. Passengers have to stay away from each other at least one seat or one metre,” he said.

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There will be 28 passengers on a 60-seat bus. The number of passengers on a smaller bus must not exceed 50 per cent of its carrying capacity, he said.

Passengers who show signs of fever, coughing or breathing difficulty will be reported to nearby healthcare centres or the health ministry’s hotline for further assistance.

In HCM City, 69 subsidised bus routes have started to run again after the social distancing period with 50 per cent of the trips back to normal.

The operation of 27 other routes with less than 1,200 passengers per day each continues to be suspended until further notice.

Passengers must keep distance from each other while the buses must open windows or set AC temperatures at 26 degrees Celsius or higher.

HCM City’s first river bus route from Bạch Đằng, District 1 to Linh Đông, Thủ Đức District also resumed operation on Monday.

Source: VNS

A large number of netizens have supported the move, arguing that demand for that non-essential services is very low in early morning.

Hanoi is mulling over opening non-essential shops like fashion and cosmetics later than usual, from 9:00 am, as part of efforts to keep social distancing amid the unpredictable coronavirus situation.

This kind of shops (without a fixed closing time) will help ease traffic congestions in rush hours if they open one hour later than other kinds of services, local media cited Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung as saying on Monday.

Initial survey shows that revenues of those shops before 9:00 am are modest while the plan will help reduce a number of 600,000 to 800,000 traffic participants in rush hours from 6:15 to 8:30 am, Chung said.

The city will maintain the plan until December 31 and see how it works in terms of social distancing and traffic congestion, the chairman said.

Chung expressed concerns over the traffic in rush hours, mostly in the morning. Traffic participants are close to each other at crossroads when waiting for traffic lights.

He emphasized the necessity of maintaining precautions in the long run like wearing face masks in public places, practicing social distancing, and hand washing regularly.

Regarding the new move, a large number of netizens have supported the plan, saying that it’s better to open at 10:00 am to ease traffic congestion and meet the demand. Few customers go to those shops in early morning, they argued.

As of April 28, Hanoi has confirmed 112 coronavirus cases, including 85 convalescents. The city has not found new infected cases for the past 13 days.

Currently, the city has a village placed under lockdown for 28 days until May 5. As many as 13 villagers have tested positive for the virus.

Source: Hanoitimes

Social distancing restrictions will be eased in Hà Nội from April 23 as Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc agreed to downgrade the city from the COVID-19 high-risk group to medium-risk.

Some areas of the city like Thường Tín, Mê Linh and places with many infection cases are still classified as high risk and ordered to continue strict social distancing measures, the Cabinet leader said at a Government meeting on social distancing policies on Wednesday afternoon.

Along with Hà Nội, HCM City, Bắc Ninh and Hà Giang provinces are also in the medium-risk category.

Đồng Văn District in Hà Giang which is connected to an ethnic minority teenage patient deems as high-risk and has earlier been locked down on Wednesday afternoon.

Another 59 provinces and cities are in the low-risk group.

PM Phúc ordered local authorities of areas in medium- and low-risk groups to closely follow the pandemic developments and create conditions to resume production and business. Local authorities are given the right to decide which shops can open or not.

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In high-risk areas, business activities on streets are strictly banned, he said.

He warned the public not to go out to celebrate loosened social distancing restrictions.

Activities like festivals, sports events involving a lot of people and operation of bars, karaoke venues, massage parlours, beauticians, flower shops and zoos are still banned.

He also advised people to continue to wear masks, keep away from each other at supermarkets and asked for quarantine measures on foreigners entering Việt Nam.

People are also asked to continue to stick to the recommendations of refraining from going out and gathering in large crowds.

Source: VNS

The number of enterprises suspending operations surged 36% year-on-year to 4,240 in the first quarter while over 13,215 people filed unemployment insurance claims, up 22.2% year-on-year.

A number of key measures have been planned by Hanoi’s authorities to help the business community overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, including preferential loans, reductions of land rental and registration fees for newly-established enterprises.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, a growing number of enterprises in Hanoi have been forced to scale down or even suspend operations, with the consequences particularly severe for those operating in the fields of trade, transportation, hotel, education, catering and hospitality services, among others.

To help the business community cope with growing pressures from the pandemic, the city was quick in addressing businesses’ concerns, which is in line with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s Directive No.11 on measures to mitigate the negative impacts on the economy.

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Firstly, Hanoi’s leaders have prioritized administrative reforms and IT application, including the expansion of public online services at advanced stages for the benefits of the people and enterprises.

Secondly, the city is providing financial support for newly-established enterprises; simplifying procedures for people claiming unemployment benefits; delaying payment of pension and death gratuity funds for firms affected by the pandemic.

Additionally, Hanoi has instructed commercial banks to continue organizing bank-business matching events with outstanding loans of VND546 trillion (US$23.37 billion) involved while providing supporting programs for customers in the forms of restructuring of debt payment, waiving and reducing of interest rates, among others.

Credit institutions are encouraged to offer loans with preferential interest rates for enterprises to resume activities.

So far, Hanoi has approved the development planning for industrial parks, targeting to have 159 parks with a combined area of 3,204.31 hectares by 2030. Over 70 industrial parks are operational at present with 3,600 enterprises.

Hanoi is calling for investment to construct an addition of 68 industrial parks worth VND19.6 trillion (US$840 million), so that more space is provided for enterprises in the coming time.

Thirdly, incentive policies are in place to support enterprises in R&D activities, including financial support for development and commercialization of intellectual products.

In the immediate future, Hanoi will speed up development of sectors with high growth potential in the current crisis such as agriculture and production of medical equipment, e-commerce, e-payment, and online learning, among others.

To address social security, Hanoi has allocated VND1.02 trillion (US$43.4 million) in trust fund via the Vietnam Bank of Social Policies so that the bank can provide preferential loans to the poor and social beneficiaries.

To date, Hanoi has a total of 285,360 operational enterprises, of which small- and medium-sized ones account for 97%. In the January-March period, the number of enterprises suspending operations surged 36% year-on-year to 4,240 while over 13,215 people filed unemployment insurance claim, up 22.2% year-on-year.

Source: Hanoitimes

More than 13,400 people linked to a COVID-19 outbreak in a village on the outskirts of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi have tested negative for the coronavirus, the government said on Monday.

Supported by the mass quarantine of tens of thousands and an aggressive contact-tracing programme, Vietnam has recorded just 268 cases of the novel coronavirus so far, and no deaths.

The country has stayed clear of the virus for four consecutive days so far.

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“97.7% of the total samples tested negative for the virus. Results of the rest will be released in coming days,” the government said in a statement.

The village, 32km (20 miles) from the capital city, was considered an epicentre and was placed under lockdown since April 7, after 13 people living there, including a Samsung Display worker, were infected.

Vietnam’s health ministry on Monday said over 200 samples linked to the Samsung Display worker also tested negative for the virus.

Source: Tuoitrenews

There exists a high chance that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will spread among local people in the capital city after the discovery of new cases of the virus over the past few days, municipal health authorities have warned.

The warning comes after it emerged that health professionals have been unable to trace the source of infection of a Hanoi resident who tested positive for the COVID-19 on April 5.

Test results indicate that the patient did not have the antibodies necessary to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19, forcing epidemiologists into making further quantitative antibody tests in order to determine when the patient had been first been exposed to the virus.

It is possible that the patient may not have caught the virus from the recent outbreak at Bach Mai hospital, but within the community as he had travelled to various places and visited a number hospitals, said Dr Tran Dac Phu, senior adviser to the Ministry of Health.

While admitting it is hugely challenging to trace the source of infection within the community, Dr Phu also suggested it is a must to early detect and place in quarantine those who come into contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients.

Supporting the view, Hoang Duc Hanh, vice director of the Hanoi Health Department, said given the patient’s complex travel history there can be more cases expected throughout the capital over the coming days, unless preventive measures are intensified.

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At present Hanoi has tracked down approximately 26,000 cases linked to Bach Mai hospital’s recent outbreak. More than half the total had samples taken for testing, with 8,410 coming back negative and five testing positive.

Bach Mai hospital is considered to be a flashpoint for the COVID-19 in the capital with over 40 confirmed cases linked to the outbreak that originated there. Experts swiftly moved to disinfect the entire hospital and the places of residence of the patients that were found to have contracted the virus.

Meanwhile, many local people in Hanoi have begun to go out on to the street in recent days, defying the two-week social distancing measures introduced by the government. Some could be seen gathering in crowds, not standing two metres away from others, and failing to don face masks when in public as required.

At present, social distancing is the best solution for containing the COVID-19 pandemic, with the policy proving effective in many other countries, Hanoi Mayor Nguyen Duc Chung noted.

According to the Mayor Chung, if as few as 10% of people fail to obey the social distancing measures, the entire policy will fail.

Source: VOV

Vietnam’s prime minister asked Hanoi and HCMC on Sunday to review and update Covid-19 plans to “ensure readiness for city lockdown scenarios.”

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was speaking at an online meeting on the Covid-19 fight with leaders of five biggest cities – Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho.

Phuc asked Hanoi and HCMC to ensure resources, especially food, for all circumstances and deal strictly with speculators raising prices of food and medical supplies.

Saying that Vietnam has entered the Covid-19 pandemic’s peak period, Phuc asked the five city administrations to intensify their focus, speed up, and “take advantage of each hour and minute to carry out defined measures.”

The cities should ready human resources and supplies to deal with the virus on a larger scale, strictly prevent people moving from outbreak areas to other areas, and be ready to support other localities if they are overloaded with infections, he said.

The Health Ministry and localities nationwide must also review and update plans on mobilizing human resources, materials and facilities to ensure supply of food and essential goods in case the Covid-19 situation worsens, the PM said.

Cities are densely populated with much higher concentration of economic activities and interactions. Their prevention and control work will be decisive for the nation, he added.

Apart from common measures, the prime minister asked city leaders to identify solutions that suit each locality, focusing on areas at high risk of infection such as apartments, office buildings, wet markets and hospitals.

Cities must be ready to deal with any situation, including emergency scenarios, he stressed.

He tasked the ministries of Health, Public Security and the People’s Committees of Hanoi and HCMC with stamping out the Covid-19 outbreaks at the Bach Mai Hospital and the Buddha Bar & Grill in District 2’s Thao Dien Ward, which have been linked to dozens of cases.

The Transport Ministry was asked to suspend international passenger flights to Vietnam and minimize flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to other localities and vice versa over the next two weeks, except for special cases. Trains, buses and other transportation services should also be limited, the PM said.

Those who intentionally make incorrect epidemiological declarations or fail to comply with quarantine regulations can face criminal charges.

On March 26, the Prime Minister had asked localities across the country to stop social events, gatherings of over 20 people in a place and gatherings of 10 people or more outside workplaces, schools and hospitals. A minimum distance of 2 m between people in public places should be ensured, he said.

Many localities have completely stopped religious ceremonies and activities of 20 or more people at places of worship, and suspended all cultural, sports and recreational activities in public places.

The government had also requested suspension of “non-essential” businesses, except for shops selling food, medicine and fuel, until April 15.

Of Vietnam’s 194 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 25 have been discharged after treatment.

Starting March 22, Vietnam suspended entry for all foreign nationals, including those of Vietnamese origin and family members with visa waivers and halted all international flights from March 25.

The Covid-19 pandemic has killed nearly 34,000 people in 199 countries and territories.

Source: Vnexpress