Read what is in the news today.

Society

-- Vietnam has reported no new confirmed cases of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) since February 13, heard at a meeting of the national steering committee for prevention and control of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Hanoi on Friday.

-- The Consular Department of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday advised Vietnamese citizens in South Korea to stay away from areas affected or possibly affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, after the East Asian country reported 100 new confirmed cases of the virus from an event at a church in Daegu, its fourth-largest city, on the same day .

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has said a ferry route traveling from the city’s outlying district of Can Gio to Vung Tau City in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, which is around 120km east of the southern metropolis, will be put into service by April 30 this year.

-- An earthquake occurred at 10:16 pm on Friday with a magnitude of 2.7 and focal depth about 12km in Huong Son District, located in the north-central province of Ha Tinh, according to the Earthquake Information and Tsunami Warning Centre under the Institute of Geophysics.

-- The Children’s Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City said on Friday that its doctors have successfully performed two separate surgeries to remove a sharp screw from the stomach of a two-year-old boy and a key from the stomach of a nine-year-old girl on the same day.

-- The People’s Committee of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has asked relevant agencies to supplement and complete a plan on the construction of a green urban village – the first of its kind in Vietnam – in Xuan Tho Commune, Da Lat City.

Education

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has requested the principals of 11 universities under the ministry’s management to prepare plans to reopen their campuses from March 1, after weeks of teaching and studying suspension due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Business

-- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced it has increased trade finance limits for Vietnamese banks to US$294 million to improve their capacity to cover payment risks in granting trade financing to local companies affected by the outbreak of COVID-19.

World News

-- Nguyen Ngoc Cam, 44, has become the first Vietnamese-South Korean chosen by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DP) to run for the 21st parliamentary elections in South Korea scheduled for this April, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.