Society

The Ministry of Health and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health will use more than 2.3 million doses of Molnupiravir anti-viral medicine in the treatment of 116,000 Covid-19 patients in the city from August 27.

The massive movement of labor since Covid-19 may result in a major shortage of workers when the pandemic comes to an end, especially unskilled workers in leather, footwear, and textile processing and electronic component assembly. Only 60-70 per cent of people are expected to return from their homeland post-pandemic to take up their previous job.

The application of enhanced pandemic prevention measures after August 23 in Ho Chi Minh City is not a lockdown or a state of emergency. The city will speed up Covid-19 vaccinations, striving for at least 90 per cent of people over 18 years old to have had their first injection and for 15 per cent to have had their second by September 15.

Implementing Government Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP on financial support for employers and laborers affected by Covid-19, 19 southern cities and provinces have provided support of more than VND911 billion ($40.1 million) to over 635,000 freelance workers who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19. Ho Chi Minh City alone has supported 462,600 people, totaling nearly VND694 billion ($30.5 million). The cities and provinces together have more than 10 million freelance workers.

Some 1.3 million Vietnamese workers have stopped working, quit their jobs, lost their jobs, or had their labor contracts suspended. According to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, trade unions at all levels have spent VND1.2 trillion on support for more than 1 million workers.

“Transition zones” - Covid-free safe places for gathering necessary goods - may replace closed wholesale markets and give small traders somewhere to sell goods, which would counter ongoing disruptions and supply chain breakdowns. Hanoi plans to set up five trans-shipment points as “transition zones”, at bus stations, stadiums, and elsewhere.