Decree 91

A year on since the Covid-19 pandemic first began Vietnamese are taking more control of their health and finance, driving greater interest in fitness and well-being along with insurance and retirement planning. — Photo courtesy of Manulife HCM CITY — A year on since the Covid-19 pandemic first began Vietnamese are taking more control of their health and finance, driving greater interest in fitness and well-being along with insurance and retirement planning, as Asia looks to the longer-term impact of the disease, according to new research from Manulife. The latest version of the ‘Manulife Asia Care Survey’ takes a closer look into customers’ concerns, priorities and aspirations, polling 4,000 people across the region who either own insurance or intend to buy it in the next six months, including around 520 in Việt Nam. Nearly all (95 per cent) of those who worry most about Covid have made an effort on a personal level to improve their overall health, mostly through more regular exercise (58 per cent) and improved diet (54 per cent). In Việt Nam, all the respondents said they had taken action to help them manage Covid, with 72 per cent saying this included doing more regular exercise. More people in Hà Nội (85 per cent) do more regular exercise than in HCM City (73 per cent). Almost everyone is self-monitoring health, and Vietnamese pay the most attention to the number of steps walked (44 per cent) among the four emerging markets covered in the survey, against a regional average of 38 per cent. Three out of five (60 per cent) of Vietnamese also own fitness wearables, well above the regional average of 46 per cent. A large majority of Vietnamese (79 per cent) also said retirement planning has become more important since Covid-19 started, below the Philippines (90 per cent), Indonesia (88 per cent) and Malaysia (83 per cent) but higher than all the developed markets. The regional average is 73 per cent. This high level of interest in …

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Ta Cong Huy, head of Lao Cai province’s Steering Committee on Disaster Prevention and Rescue, described how heavy snow spread to Sa Pa and Bat Xat districts on January 11. A thick layer of snow between 10cm and 20cm rapidly developed and badly impacted livestock breeding. By January 11, approximately 93 hectares of flower and vegetable plantation had been covered in snow, leading to 1,050 pots of orchid flowers being destroyed and 45 buffaloes killed in Lao Cai province. In total the cold weather caused losses in excess of VND2 billion, and the figure is set to increase as the extreme cold spell is forecast to continue over the coming days, Huy noted. Hoang Van Vien, vice director of Dien Bien province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said local authorities have urged farmers to deal with the devastating impact of the harsh weather, although due to prolonged drops in temperature, many cattle have died because of the cold. The entirety of Dien Bien province reported that 91 buffalos and cows have died, with losses estimated to be at VND1.3 billion. A similar situation occurred in Son La province, where over 90 cattle have been killed due to periods of extreme cold spell and frost. …

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The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which will cover a third of global trade and population, making it the world's largest FTA, will become the "foundation of trade in Asia," Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama told a press conference on the matter. "To establish a desirable economic order in the region through the steady implementation of this agreement, I hope that it will be approved by parliament at an early date," Kajiyama also said. The trade deal was signed last November and will see tariffs eliminated on 91 percent of goods, with standardized rules pertaining to investment, intellectual property and e-commerce. The RCEP groups the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, China, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. After the agreement is ratified by six ASEAN members and three non-ASEAN signatory countries, the RCEP will come into effect. …

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