Here are today’s leading news story:

Society

— The Vietnamese Ministry of Health on Saturday morning announced 34 new community cases of COVID-19, including 32 at a cluster in Chi Linh City, northern Hai Duong Province and two in northern Quang Ninh Province, bringing the patient tally to 1,739, with 1,448 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths.

— The Health Ministry late on Friday afternoon announced 18 recoveries from COVID-19, including patient No.1,435 -- a woman returning from the UK who was the first imported case of the new coronavirus variant in Vietnam.

— More than 2,000 workers at POYUN Vietnam Electronics Co.,Ltd, which had been sealed off from noon on Thursday after a COVID-19 cluster had been detected there, were sent to six centralized quarantine facilities in Chi Linh City for better quarantine conditions on Friday.

— The Center for Disease Control of Ho Chi Minh City late on Friday night issued an urgent notice to find passengers on the flight VN213 from Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City at 3:00 pm on Thursday due to a suspected COVID-19 case traveling on the flight.

— Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on Saturday morning that the ministry had approved the use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine, the first inoculation licensed for distribution in Vietnam.

— Authorities in Vang Danh Ward, Uong Bi City, Quang Ninh on Friday fined a woman VND2 million (US$86.77) for not wearing a face mask in public place according to regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control.

— The third field hospital for COVID-19 treatment will be set up at Vietnam - Canada Vocational School in Cong Hoa Commune, Chi Linh City with a capacity of 1,000 beds in the first phase under the support of Vietnamese conglomerate Sun Group.

— Hanoi authority decided to lock down Times City apartment building in Hai Ba Trung District from Friday after a resident in the condominium tested positive for COVID-19.

Business

— A total of $15.1 million worth of FDI capital was poured into Hanoi during January, according to the municipal Statistics Office.

World news

— Thailand’s plan to produce the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine locally is on track to be ready to begin mass inoculations in June, with a capacity to make up to 18 million doses per month, a senior official told Reuters on Friday.

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