What you need to know in Vietnam today:

Society

-- Vietnam announced nine new cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Thursday night, taking the country's total to 85, with 16 having fully recovered and walked out of the hospital free of the virus by February 26.

-- Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has found 23 malicious code files spread in Vietnam amid the COVID-19 pandemic

-- Vietnam will start suspending visa-free travel policy for Belarus, Russia, and Japan nationals on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

-- A Vietnamese tycoon, Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, has donated VND2.637 billion (US$265,000) for the Ho Chi Minh City administration to build nine negative pressure rooms to treat COVID-19 patients, his spokesperson told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday.

-- Ho Chi Minh City authorities say they will establish an COVID-19 isolation zone that can accommodate 20,000 people at the dormitories of the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City in Thu Duc District and Di An City, Binh Duong Province.

Business

-- PetroVietnam says it predicts a $2.4 billion loss in revenue from crude oil sales if prices plunge to $30 per barrel.

-- The Asian Development Bank on Friday announced a $6.5 billion initial response package to help Vietnam and other developing member countries to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the online newspaper of the Vietnamese government.

Education

-- Elementary school principals are requested to direct teachers to prepare plans for teaching online lessons via their websites, according to directions issued by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training. 

World News

-- The novel coronavirus has infected nearly 245,000 people and killed more than 10,000 others around the world, according to statistics. Over 87,000 patients have recovered.

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