Here are today’s leading news stories:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Health recorded 16,378 COVID-19 cases in 60 provinces and cities on Saturday, raising the national tally to 2,007,862, with 1,715,147 recoveries and 35,480 deaths.

Society

-- A cold front is forecast to affect northern Vietnamese provinces from Monday, lowering temperatures to between 12 and 15 degrees Celsius in the delta and to below five degrees Celsius in mountainous areas.

-- Police in the northern province of Tuyen Quang have apprehended a 52-year-old man for spreading information and documents that defamed the people's administration and insulted leaders of the Party and state.

-- Sales of peach blossom trees in Hanoi ahead of this year’s Lunar New Year have been quite slow although prices have decreased by about one-third compared to previous years.

-- The first phase of the construction of a US$2.3 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant, designed with the capacity of 1,500MW, was initiated in the north-central province of Quang Tri on Saturday.

-- Police in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City confirmed on Saturday they had arrested a 54-year-old man for colleting 'protection money' worth up to VND12 million ($528) a month from a local beer parlor.

-- A man and a woman who are both 23 years old have been captured for robbing three women before using the stolen property to buy narcotics and a pair of wedding rings in Ho Chi Minh City earlier this week.

Business

-- Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 increased by 2.58 percent from the previous year, the Vietnam News Agency quoted the General Statistics Office as saying.

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