Vietnamese citizens finish their quarantine period

The country has so far recorded a total of 369 infections, including 229 imported ones who were quarantined upon arrival.

Of the total, 341 patients, or 92.4 percent, have recovered fully, and no fatalities have been reported so far.

Among the 28 active patients, six tested negative at least once for the SARS-CoV-2 that causes the disease.

Currently 13,047 people who had contact with COVID-19 patients and returned home from pandemic-hit areas are being quarantined either at hospitals, concentrated establishments or at home.

Vietnam records 14 more imported COVID-19 cases

Vietnam on July 6 evening confirmed 14 more cases positive for the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and all of them are imported and quarantined upon arrival, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

The new patients, including 12 males and two females, returned home from Bangladesh via Van Don airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh on July 3 and were immediately put into quarantine at a military camp in Bim Son town, the central province of Thanh Hoa.

At present, they are being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases No. 2 in Dong Anh, Hanoi.

By 6pm on July 6, Vietnam recorded a total of 369 COVID-19 infections, including 229 imported ones. The country has gone through 81 consecutive days without local transmissions.

On the same day, two patients were declared fully recovered, raising the total recoveries to 342 or 92.7 percent. They are Patient 239, who is a 22-year-old Vietnamese man, and Patient 91, the British pilot.

Currently 12,291 people who had contact with COVID-19 patients and returned home from pandemic-hit areas are being quarantined either at hospitals, concentrated establishments or at home.

Information sector contributes significantly to COVID-19 fight

Telecom service providers sent over 15 billion text messages regarding COVID-19 control and prevention during the first half of 2020 and received donations via text for victims of the pandemic totalling 152 billion VND (6.58 million USD).

The information was released at a conference held by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on July 6 to review its work in the first half and set out tasks for the remainder of the year.

During the period, the conference heard, the sector put into use 20 COVID-19 control and prevention applications and 12 platforms serving social distancing. Despite a surge in online activities, the number of cyberattacks fell by 26 percent compared to the second half of 2019 and by 27.1 percent year-on-year.

There were 600,000 COVID-19-related articles published in newspapers to provide readers with official news.

Notably, in the social distancing period in April, postal companies ensured the smooth flow of goods, with more than 377 million parcels delivered, an annual increase of over 40 percent.

MIC also announced it has completed the provision of all online administrative procedures at Level 4, meaning service payments can be done online and transaction results are available either online or by post, upon request. The ministry and the health ministry are the only two governmental bodies to have done so to date.

It said that between now and the end of the year it will give instructions to help all localities nationwide build telecom infrastructure development plans to increase the rate of passive telecom infrastructure sharing to 17-20 percent. It will also work with telecom businesses and smartphone producers to ensure each citizen has a smartphone.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam said the ministry will begin piloting Made-in-Vietnam 5G devices in July and a 5G network using such devices in October.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, meanwhile, touched on the priorities the ministry needs to carry out in the time to come, including helping all localities implement the local government service platform and ensuring that the IT systems of all public agencies have four-layer security./

Cambodian firms to offer COVID-19 insurance to foreign tourists

The Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Health have collaborated with local insurance companies to issue the 50,000 insurance certificate required for foreign travellers, according to the Khmer Times.

The collaboration came after the Cambodian government realised it was difficult to claim the money from foreign insurance companies for the medical treatment and testing fees when a foreign traveller tested positive for the coronavirus and needed hospital treatment in Cambodia.

Speaking at a news conference, Youk Sambath, a Health Ministry secretary of state, said the Cambodian government has cooperated with 10 local insurance companies and the service will be available soon for the public and foreigners.

“At the moment, we are asking foreign travellers who visit Cambodia to deposit 3,000 USD to cover a COVID-19 service charge. If they test positive, we will use this deposited money to pay for the hospital, transportation, hotel fee, medical care, meals, test, and laundry other services,” she added.

If they tested negative for SARS-CoV-2, they will spend only 200 USD to 300 USD, and the rest of the deposit money will be returned to the depositors within the next five days, she added.

According to Sambath, the government has received around 9 million USD deposited cash from the 3,000 foreign travellers who came to Cambodia from May 21 to June 30.

Youk Chamroeunrith, Forte Insurance managing director, said the COVID-19 insurance product has already been prepared by Forte. His company will work with the government. The insurance product will cover 50,000 USD when a foreigner visits Cambodia.

“Our product is now online, and the premium is 90 USD for 20 days,” Chamroeunrith said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on Cambodia’s tourism industry, with nearly 3,000 tourism and tourism-related businesses closing and more than 45,000 workers losing jobs as of May.

Cambodia's Ministry of Tourism forecast that the local tourism industry will lose 3 billion USD this year.