Vietnam

HANOI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has placed an order to buy some 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine made by the British company AstraZeneca, a Vietnamese health official said on Monday, while also seeking to purchase vaccines from other sources.

"We have signed an agreement to guarantee the vaccine for 15 million people, which is equivalent to some 30 million doses," Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Health Truong Quoc Cuong was quoted by Vietnam News Agency as saying at a press briefing on Monday.

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam’s economic growth slowed this year to its weakest in at least three decades, buffeted by the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and a sluggish global economy, government data showed on Sunday.

The economy expanded 2.91% this year after having posted gross domestic product growth above 7% for two consecutive years, the General Statistics Office (GSO) said in a statement.

The country likely posted a trade surplus of $19.06 billion in the year the GSO said. Average consumer prices rose 3.23%.

Hanoi, Dec 1 (AP-PTI) Vietnamese authorities are conducting intensive contact tracing after discovering the country's first confirmed local transmission of the coronavirus in 89 days.

State media said Tuesday that a 32-year-old man in Ho Chi Minh City tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday after visiting a flight attendant who was undergoing self-quarantine at his home following his return from Japan two weeks ago.

HANOI, Nov 25 (NNN-VNA) – A geo-park in central highlands Vietnam’s Dak Nong province, officially becomes the third in the country, to join the global geo-parks network of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), it was reported today.

The province’s Dak Nong Geo-park, which received a certificate as part of UNESCO’s Global Geo-parks Network, covers more than 4,700sq km of land, with 65 heritage and geomorphological sites, including volcanic craters, volcanic caves, and waterfalls.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Nov 25 (NNN-VNA) – The customs and police forces of Vietnam’s southern Ho Chi Minh City, seized over 20 kg of drugs hidden in cross-border delivery parcels.

The drugs, which were seized yesterday, include heroin, ecstasy, marijuana and crystal methamphetamine. They were hidden in carton boxes, foot massage machine and gift boxes, placed in nine parcels.

Among the drugs, more than 700 grams of heroin were found in parcels registered for shipping to Australia from Ho Chi Minh City, said the report.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — President Donald Trump skipped summits with his Asian counterparts for the third year in a row on Saturday, even as rival China is set to expand its influence with a massive free trade deal in the region.

National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said Trump regretted he was unable to attend the online summit with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but stressed the importance of ties with the region.

HANOI, Nov 4 (NNN-Xinhua) – Typhoon Molave has left 39 people dead and 44 others missing in Vietnam’s central and central highlands regions, the country’s Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said.

The fatalities, up from 36 reported on Tuesday, were recorded in Quang Nam, Nghe An, Dak Lak and Gia Lai provinces, while the missing were reported mostly in Quang Nam and Binh Dinh provinces, according to the committee.

As of 7:00 a.m. local time Wednesday, 26 communes in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces still suffered from power outage.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up a five-nation, anti-China tour of Asia in Vietnam on Friday with a call for regional unity to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness, as the fierce American presidential election race entered its final stretch.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Typhoon Molave set off landslides that killed at least 15 people and left 38 missing in central Vietnam, where ferocious wind and rain blew away roofs and knocked out power in a region of 1.7 million residents, state media said Thursday.

The casualties from the landslides bring the death toll to at least 19 with about 64 missing, including 26 crew members from two fishing boats that sank Wednesday as the typhoon approached with winds of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour. Vietnamese officials say it’s the worst typhoon to hit the country in 20 years.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Typhoon Molave roared closer to Vietnam with destructive force Wednesday, leaving one villager dead and causing two boats with 12 fishermen to sink as the country braced for the most powerful storm in 20 years, state media said.

A man died after winds of up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) per hour knocked him off his roof while trying to reinforce it in south-central Quang Ngai province, where the typhoon was forecast to make landfall later Wednesday, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.