Here are today’s leading news stories:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Health on Sunday morning reported 39 domestic COVID-19 infections, including 21 in Bac Giang, 10 in Ho Chi Minh City, and eight in Bac Ninh. The national tally was at 8,580 patients, with 3,310 recoveries and 53 deaths.

-- The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Sunday confirmed the 52nd and 53rd coronavirus-related death in the country after two women, aged 35 and 53, passed away with COVID-19 and underlying conditions.

-- A ceremony was organized in Hanoi on Saturday evening with the attendance of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to officially launch Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccine fund.

Society

-- Two siblings, aged seven and eight, drowned after falling into a pit of water near their house in the north-central province of Ha Tinh on Saturday afternoon, local authorities confirmed later the same day.

-- Police in Da Lat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong raided two karaoke shops early on Saturday morning and discovered 42 people using the service despite a ban due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

-- Twelve people were caught using drugs in the basement of a villa in Da Lat City after officers inspected the venue early on Saturday morning.

-- Police in Ho Chi Minh City confirmed on Saturday they had arrested two men, aged 31 and 33, for snatching phones of multiple commuters in the city.

-- An official from the port authority in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho was arrested on Saturday for being involved in an illegal ring that produced and traded fake gasoline.

-- Police in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang have broken up a gambling ring run by a 55-year-old woman, with transactions worth more than VND50 billion (US$2.1 million).

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