Buddhists pray online due to COVID-19 outbreak Blood shortage warned as donations postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks The resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in many cities and provinces in recent weeks has seriously affected the blood supply for medical treatment. Although many people and organisations responded to the call of blood donation by the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion (NIHBT) on February 19, the amount of blood received per day was still only a few hundred units while the average need for treatment each day is from 1,200 to 1,500 units. There is usually a shortage of blood during the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday as the holiday lasts long while blood has a short shelf life and many patients still need blood transfusions during Tết. This year, the pandemic's resurgence has made the shortage after Tết even worse. Before Tết, 30 entities requested to postpone or cancel blood donation plans which meant the NIHBT missed out on receiving more than 8,000 units. After the holiday, the institute received information about the delay of 24 more blood donation plans from now to the end of March with an expected donation of 5,000 units. In addition, the blood donation schedule in March cannot be confirmed because it depends on the university and college's return to the school schedule. This means the blood reserves of the institute are decreasing. If this situation continues, blood reserves will decrease to an alarming threshold, fell into a state of scarcity and seriously affect the blood supply to health facilities. The Institute’s director Bạch Quốc Khánh said: “The estimated blood demand for emergency and treatment in February and March of the institute is about 50,000 units.” “With blood donation schedules maintained up to now, there was still a shortage of about 20,000 units, seriously affecting the provision of 177 medical facilities in 28 provinces and cities in the north with about 41 million …
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Developing value chains for agricultural products
Many effective models According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Lieu Province, through the process of agricultural restructuring, many models of the linking value chains in the production, processing and consumption of agricultural products have been formed, bringing high economic efficiency. Currently, the province’s many companies and units of shrimp farming in the form of a closed value chain were recognised as agricultural enterprises applying high technology or certified by international standards of aquaculture such as GlobalGAP, BAP, ASC, and Organic. In addition, the province has steadily developed the rice industry following a large production model, joining the value chain, with rice output increased from 1.066 million tonnes in 2015 to 1.15 million tonnes by 2020. In Hai Duong, the agricultural sector has also been promoting the formation of value chains for agricultural products. Accordingly, the province has been focusing on building agricultural production zones for export processing, high-tech agricultural zones, and expanding production scale according to the GAP assessment process. Up to now, the whole province has 335 hectares of organic rice, 114 rice-growing models of "one zone, one variety, one time", with the minimum scale of 30 hectares per zone. Specialised vegetable growing areas with high efficiency continue to be maintained and expanded. Thanks to production in value chains in 2020, many agricultural products of the province will be exported through official channels to high quality markets, such as: lychee, longan exported to Japan and the US; carrots to the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, and Middle Eastern countries; cabbage to the ROK and Japan; pickled cucumbers to Russia and the ROK; and onion and garlic to Malaysia. Meanwhile, according to the Hung Yen Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province has successfully implemented the project "Building and developing models …
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Vietnam records five new COVID-19 cases on February 26 evening
Vietnam reported five new COVID-19 infections on February 26 evening, including four domestically-transmitted cases in Hai Duong and one imported case in Dong Thap province. Twenty-seven more COVID-19 patients in Hai Duong province have been give the all-clear from coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Photo: VNA) The new infections brought the total number of patients in the country to 2,426, including 831 domestically-transmitted cases since new outbreaks hit Vietnam on January 27, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. By the afternoon of February 26, 10 provinces and cities, which had been previously struck by the latest outbreaks, had seen no new locally-transmitted cases for 14 days, including Hoa Binh, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Binh Duong, Hung Yen, Bac Giang, Gia Lai, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City. The Subcommittee for Treatment reported that 35 more patients were declared to recover from the disease on February 26, raising the total number of recoveries to 1,839. Meanwhile, the number of deaths related to COVID-19 was still kept at 35. Among active patients undergoing treatment at medical establishments, 45 tested negative for coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 once, 60 twice and 72 thrice. As many as 76,495 people who had close contact with confirmed patients or entered Vietnam from pandemic-hit region are being quarantined nationwide, including 580 in hospitals, 12,038 in concentrated quarantine establishments and the remaining 63,877 at their residences./. VNA …
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