Read what is in the news today:

Society

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has advised people against going out unless when absolutely necessary as the ministry announced seven more cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Thursday morning, adding to a current tally of 141 patients in the country.

-- Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Wednesday penned a letter to doctors, health officials, and medical workers working on the frontline of COVID-19 prevention efforts, whom he described as “white-blouse fighters,” to express how proud and thankful he is for their contribution and devotion.

-- Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son on Wednesday requested that 100 percent of people present at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi be tested for the novel coronavirus after two health workers and a patient at the infirmary had caught COVID-19. 

-- The People’s Committee of Long An Province has suspended all recreational and entertainment activities as well as services that draw large gatherings from 6:00 pm on Wednesday as the Mekong Delta province had isolated a person traveling on the same flight as Vietnam’s 123rd COVID-19 patient.

-- A 25-year-old woman undergoing mandatory 14-day self-quarantine over COVID-19 at her home in Long Bien District, Hanoi was busted as she attempted to board a flight to the UK on Wednesday morning. She has been sent to a centralized quarantine camp and is facing an administrative fine of VND5-10 million (US$214-428).

-- Fifty-three health officials and medical workers, including members of the board of directors at Binh Chanh District Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, have been placed under quarantine due to contact with family members of a COVID-19 patient while attending a funeral.

-- Police in the south-central province of Phu Yen on Wednesday said they had arrested Phung The Dung, former deputy chief of Van Nghe (Literature and Arts) newspaper’s representative office in the central and Central Highlands regions, for suspected “fraud and appropriation of property.”

Business

-- Dozens of boats carrying rice from Cambodia to Vietnam have got stuck at the Vinh Hoi Dong border gate in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang for the past few days due to procedures for document, tax, and disease inspection.

Education

-- The Giao Duc (Education) Publishing House on Wednesday introduced a new price range of between VND179,000 ($7.64) and VND194,000 (8.28) for its new first-grade textbook sets for the 2020-21 school year, a near four-fold increase from the rate of current textbooks.

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