Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- Voting began at 7:00 am on Sunday across approximately 80,000 electoral units nationwide in the elections of deputies to Vietnam’s 15th National Assembly and members to people’s councils at all levels for the 2021-26 tenure.

COVID-19 Updates

-- The Ministry of Health on Sunday morning recorded 31 local COVID-19 infections and two imported cases, raising the national tally to 5,119, with 2,721 recoveries and 42 deaths.

-- COVID-19 patient No. 3,022, a 72-year-old woman, with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertension, passed away on Saturday night, the national steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control confirmed on Sunday, adding that this is the country’s 42nd coronavirus-related fatality.

Society

-- A two-year-old girl was playing with her older sister along the Soai Rap River bank in Can Gio District, Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday when she fell into the water and went missing. Her body was found by rescuers later the same day.

-- A karaoke shop in the northern province of Hai Duong has been found letting customers in via a back door and allegedly allowing the guests to use drugs at the venue despite an ongoing ban due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

-- Three children aged six and seven drowned after falling into a stream while playing near their house in the south-central province of Binh Dinh on Saturday morning.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has required all passenger buses to carry no more than 20 people on each vehicle and strictly comply with other COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

Business

-- A survey conducted by the General Statistics Office showed that the average income of Vietnamese people in 2020 was VND4.23 million (US$182) per month, while the southern province of Binh Duong had the highest per capita income, which exceeded VND7 million ($302) per month.

-- Vietnam’s total output of electricity from renewable energies hit 9.5 billion kWh in the first four months of 2021, up 157 percent year on year and accounting for 11.8 percent of the total electricity output, according to a report by the Vietnam Electricity.

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