Here are today’s leading news stories:

COVID-19 Updates

-- The Ministry of Health documented 15,707 COVID-19 cases, including 2,945 in Hanoi, on Saturday, raising the national tally to 2,126,444, with 1,800,692 recoveries and 36,596 deaths.

-- Ho Chi Minh City has been categorized as a ‘green zone,’ a locality at low risk of COVID-19 transmission, for three consecutive weeks. The metropolis recorded only 1,802 cases from January 14 to 20, down from 3,122 cases a week earlier.

Society

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested relevant ministries and agencies to consider reopening all cinemas across Vietnam, the Government Office said in an announcement.

-- Police officers in Ho Chi Minh City captured a 25-kilogram python that was found on the ceiling of a house in Tan Phu District on Saturday. The python was later released to its natural habitat.

-- Police in northern Thi Binh Province confirmed on Saturday they had apprehended a 35-year-old man for injuring his children, aged three and four, with a knife following an argument with his wife.

-- A woman was seriously injured after an elevator had a free fall from the fourth floor of a hotel in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City early on Saturday morning.

-- Ho Chi Minh City's market watchdog has confiscated a large amount of foreign-made COVID-19 prevention and treatment medicine as the owner was unable to present documents proving the product origin.

Business

-- Trade between Vietnam and the U.S. has set a new milestone after hitting US$111.56 billion in 2021, up nearly $21 billion over the previous year, the Vietnam News Agency quoted the General Department of Customs as saying.

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