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Hà Nội to re-open religious establishments, relic sites on March 8 Mekong Delta provinces step up COVID preventive measures as 2 test positive in Đồng Tháp Community-based COVID-19 prevention teams work hard during pandemic PM asks for rapid COVID-19 vaccination distribution Hải Dương conducts large-scale testing for COVID-19 from Feb 24 Minister of Health Nguyễn Thanh Long at Friday meeting of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. — VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn HÀ NỘI — Vaccinations using the recently-imported AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are expected to start on Monday, Minister of Health Nguyễn Thanh Long informed a meeting of the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Friday. The first batch comprising over 117,600 doses of the vaccine manufactured in the Republic of Korea (RoK), arrived in Việt Nam on February 24 . After holding working sessions with the producer, Việt Nam has obtained an accreditation certificate for the batch from the RoK. Long said the doses, verified by the ministry, met the conditions for vaccination in Việt Nam. On Saturday, the health minister will chair a conference to launch the vaccination plan and provide training for medical staff nationwide in the use and storage of the vaccine, as well as the handling of post-injection complications. According to the official, priority for vaccination will be given to people at the front line of the fight against COVID-19, including health, army, police, customs and immigration personnel; those working in sectors offering essential services like aviation, transport, tourism and education; people with chronic illnesses or above 65 years old; those living in pandemic-hit areas; the poor and beneficiaries of social welfare. Those who get the shots will be monitored via digital health records and receive e-certificates for their completion of inoculation. Five million doses of vaccines, mostly …

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Vietnam will send two warships 015-Tran Hung Dao and 016-Quang Trung to compete at the 2021 International Army Games held by Russia this August, according to the Vietnam Navy newspaper. The 015-Tran Hung Dao vessel. The two missile defense vessels of Vietnam will compete in the "Sea Cup" with four categories, including Marine skills, fighting against sinking at the onshore training facility, usage of salvage vehicles, and artillery fire tests. 015 Tran Hung Dao and 016 Quang Trung are two missile defense vessels built by Russia under Project 11661E "Gepard". They have been employed by Brigade 162 of the Vietnam People's Navy since February 2018. The ship is equipped with many modern weapons manufactured by Russia under a contract signed with the Vietnam Navy, in order to build up a regular naval force, and improve the capacity to protect the sea and islands of the country. The Vietnamese Gepard-class defense vessels are stealthy, able to track, search and destroy surface ships and submarines. At the same time, they can perform missions of air defense, escorts, and patrol to protect the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone independently or operate in teams. Army Games 2021 is expected to take place from August 22 to September 4 with 34 categories, which will be held in many different countries. Vietnam will host rescue and sniper competitions. During the 2020 International Army Games, Vietnam’s tank team triumphed at the final race of tank crews of the second division in the Tank Biathlon event. The International Army Games is an annual military sports event organized by the Ministry of Defense of Russia. The event, which was first staged in August 2015, involves close to 30 countries taking part in dozens of competitions over two weeks to prove which is the most skilled. Tran Thuong …

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Europe’s medicines regulator said on Thursday it had started a rolling review of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, an important display of confidence in the shot that paves the way for its potential approval across the 27-nation bloc. Hungary became the first EU country to grant the Russian vaccine emergency national approval in January, Slovakia has ordered shipments, and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has said his country could move to use Sputnik V. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement it would review data from ongoing trials of the vaccine until there was enough evidence for a formal marketing authorisation application. EMA’s ‘rolling reviews’ are aimed at speeding up the approval process by allowing researchers to submit findings in real-time before final trial data is ready. “While EMA cannot predict the overall timelines, it should take less time than normal to evaluate an eventual application because of the work done during the rolling review,” it said. Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF sovereign wealth fund that is promoting Sputnik V internationally, hailed the start of EMA’s rolling review as an important moment for Russia which he said showed its application had been a strong one. “Sputnik V can act as a bridge between Russia and Europe, but its roll out should not get bogged down in politics,” Dmitriev told Reuters, praising Germany, France, Italy and Austria for what he called their pragmatic approach to Sputnik V. The shot’s efficacy was initially greeted with scepticism by some Western scientists after Russia approved it in August last year without waiting for the results of full clinical trials. However, scientists said it was almost 92% effective in fighting COVID-19, based on peer-reviewed late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal last month. The two-shot vaccine uses two different weakened common cold viruses to deliver immune-building protein to the human body. Dmitriev said …

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