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Dantri/DTiNews readers have sent over VND174m to help an 11-year-old boy who is struggling with leukaemia. Nga's family receives the donation The mother, Tran Thi Nga said everything started seven years ago when they noticed that their son was looking frail and lacking appetite. He was diagnosed with leukaemia at four years old. Nga's son, Nguyen Gia Bao, was admitted to the National Institute of Haematology & Blood Transfusion. But while they were at the hospital, Nga's mother-in-law suffered from a stroke. Nga's father-in-law has diabetes and weak health. A trip to Hanoi cost them a total of VND30m (USD1,300) to VND40m. Bao needs a bone marrow transplant which cost over VND1.2bn (USD52,000) which is too much for his family. On February 26, the representative of Dantri in the northern central coast visited Nga's family and transferred VND174,017,666 (USD7,500) donated by readers. Nga was moved upon receiving the donation. She said, "We have received many calls from people all over Vietnam and overseas. Many people directly donated to us and give us encouragement. We are grateful and want to thank everyone who helped us." Nga said they had run out of money. Thanks to health insurance that Bao's treatment was continued. Bao's homeroom teacher and the parents' group also donated over VND6m (USD259) to the family. Bao's teacher and classmates helped raise over VND30m for him before the Tet Holiday. Le Van Long, chairman of Le Loi Ward People's Committee, said, Nga's mother-in-law was entitled to a monthly allowance for disabled people. The local authorities often visit and send gifts to the family on holidays and special events. …

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Nguyen Thi Nhung, 39, decided to stay back in Hanoi instead of returning to her hometown for the Lunar New Year holidays ( Tet ) because she hoped to open her tea stall soon after the national break. But two weeks after the holiday ended, her hopes have been dashed as the tea stall remains banned from opening. Beginning Tuesday, indoor coffee shops in the capital city have been allowed to welcome their patrons , but outdoor ones like Nhung's tea stall, closed since February 16, will remain closed until further notice. "It is like an everlasting earthquake shaking my livelihood, but I have no choice but to cling to whatever I have and wait," Nhung said. Suffering Nhung’s fate are thousands of street food vendors in the capital city, mostly low-income residents. The Covid-19 pandemic has robbed them of their livelihood and left them in dire straits. A street food vendor in Hanoi, October 2017. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy. Le Thi Chinh, 47, who runs a xoi (sticky rice) stall near the Gia Lam Bus Terminal, has earned next to nothing since early February. The diabetes afflicted woman ticked off what she lacked. "Money to rent the house, to pay for my children's education, to buy my medicines... I made nothing last month." Her four-member family has to depend entirely on her husband, who earns around VND8 million ($349.15) per month working for a paper-making factory in Hanoi's Long Bien District. In their cramped accommodation, Chinh's pots, stove, dishes and other materials for her xoi stall lie idle in a corner. She has no idea when she will be able to light up her stove again. "I have cut our spending on food and milk for our sons. I cannot send them to my hometown because traveling back and forth costs a significant amount of money," Chinh said, adding she used to earn up to VND600,000 ($26.19) per day. All street vendors selling tea, fruits and noodles around the bus station have disappeared since the latest Covid-19 …

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Tran Ban Hung This is not a new development for us. We have been rescuing agricultural products almost every year. Market glut is a normal situation in the country as farmers nationwide do not have a long-term production plan. However, I felt a little heartbroken when driving along the streets of Hanoi last week and seeing stalls selling farm produce at very low prices, like VND5,000 ($0.22) per kilo of carrot and VND3,500 per cauliflower, with notices asking people to "rescue" Hai Duong products. The director of the Hai Duong Department of Industry and Trade, Pham Thanh Hai, said there were thousands of hectares of onion, carrot, different types of vegetables, fish, chicken and eggs still in stock whose consumption "depended completely on neighboring localities." "All we can do now is to call the directors of industry-trade departments (in the neighboring localities) and ask them to send a message to their higher authorities for accepting products from Hai Duong," Hai said. Hai Duong is where one of the first cases of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak was detected in late January. Since then, infections have risen to 681 in the northern province. A social distancing campaign began throughout the province on February 16. It was decided Monday that it would end on March 3. Amidst the Lunar New Year atmosphere, the most important festival in the country, many families in Hai Duong had to be placed under a lockdown, which meant their farm produce getting stuck because of "difficulties" in transportation. The thought strikes me: We have been fighting against the pandemic, yes, but in a way that we have also fought against the livelihoods of our people. People in central city of Da Nang "rescue" farm produce of Hai Duong in February 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong. Instead of letting each locality have its own policies to prevent and fight the pandemic, why don’t ministries and related agencies come up with an overall plan to …

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