Here are today’s leading news stories:

Politics

-- United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will pay an official visit to Vietnam on July 28 and 29 at the invitation of Vietnamese Minister of National Defense Phan Van Giang, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

-- The first session of Vietnam’s 15th National Assembly will be shortened by an additional three days and is expected to conclude on July 28 due to the serious COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 Updates

-- The Ministry of Health confirmed 3,973 local COVID-19 cases, including 2,328 cases in Ho Chi Minh City, on Sunday morning, raising the country’s tally to 94,913, with 17,583 recoveries and 370 deaths.

-- Three million Moderna COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by the U.S. via the COVAX scheme arrived in Vietnam early on Sunday morning. Another two million of the shots have been allocated to 53 provinces and cities for pandemic response.

-- A total of 21 people from the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long have tested positive for the novel coronavirus after attending a COVID-19 patient's funeral, the provincial Department of Health confirmed on Saturday, adding that four hamlets with over 5,400 people had been locked down to control the infection cluster.

Society

-- Officers in Da Lat City, located in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, on Saturday afternoon detected two tractor-trailers carrying 29 metric tons of potatoes that were imported from China without legitimate documents.

-- Thousands of people were still traveling to the Central Highlands from southern provinces on Saturday night following the implementation of extensive social distancing measures, resulting in severe congestion at COVID-19 checkpoints.

-- A woman in Hanoi has been fined VND2 million (US$87) for going outside without a proper reason after she took her dog out for a walk on Saturday.

Sports

-- Vietnam is scheduled to compete in rowing, Judo, weightlifting, boxing, and badminton at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Sunday. The competitions are aired on VTV6 and VTV9 channels.

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