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Many offers to sell coastal hotels in Da Nang have appeared on real estate forums these days. Most of them are located in districts Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son. A hotel put up on sale On just one real estate website on February 22 many ads were listed. A 4-star hotel on Vo Nguyen Giap street, 600 square meters, with 19 stories, 125 rooms and 2 conference rooms is offered at VND440 billion. Hotels on the major streets of Ha Bong, Tran Bach Dang, Ho Nghinh, Vo Nguyen Giap and Ho Xuan Huong are offered at tens or hundreds of billions of dong. Hoang Lam, the owner of a hotel on Tran Bach Dang street, said accommodation service providers have been hit hard by Covid-19. “We have been struggling to survive by cutting costs. However, as capital is getting exhausted, hotel owners have to liquidate assets to pay bank debts,” he said. “Selling hotels is unavoidable as there is no source of revenue, and the operation cost is high,” he said. Do Van Hien from Dana Hotel, a broker, said a lot of hotels in Da Nang have been put up for sale since the second Covid-19 outbreak. “The hotels for sale are 2-4-star. The prices have fallen by 20 percent and buyers are mostly from northern provinces,” Hien said. According to Hien, 3-star hotels are priced at VND20-100 billion, while 4-star hotels are at least VND280 billion. The value of hotels depends on the locations, area, quality, numbers of rooms and brands. The transactions of 4-5-star hotels, which have strong brands, are confidential. Hotel owners only work with prestigious brokers, and buyers have to prove their financial capability. Hien said no one wanted to sell hotels in 2016-2019 because they could make a high profit from the business. But since 2020, guests are coming in dribs and drabs, and operation costs and loan interest rates are high. Cao Tri Dung, chair of the Da Nang Tourism Association, admitted that tourism services have become nearly frozen and many hotels have been put up on sale. …

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Developed by the Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC and the Military Medical University, Nanocovax is Vietnam's first COVID-19 vaccine to reach the human trial stage. The 35 volunteers were chosen among about 300 people who registered to participate in the second-stage trial of the vaccine at the University after undergoing rigorous medical examinations.  They are divided into three groups for receiving three different doses of 25mcg, 50mcg and 75mcg, and one group with five people getting placebo. According to a representative from the University, a total 560 volunteers, aged 18-60, including those with several diseases such as hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes, among others, will participate in the second-stage trial, which is carried out in Hanoi and the Mekong Delta province of Long An. Lieutenant-General Do Quyet, Director of the Military Medical University, said since the trial sees the participation of volunteers with underlying health conditions, competent authorities have been prepared for all scenarios and ensure safety for all volunteers. Results of the trial will be announced in May 2021 before preparing for the third-stage trial during which only one single shot of the vaccine will be administered to 10,000-15,000 people from both domestic and foreign pandemic-hit regions, Quyet added. Present at the second-stage trial of Nano Covax at Military Medical University, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam encouraged the volunteers and the medical workers, while expressing his firm belief in the ability of the Vietnamese scientists in successfully developing COVID-19 vaccines. The first-stage trial of the Nano Covax vaccine showed that it is likely to be effective against B117 variant from the UK. Vietnam is one among 40 countries in the world that have started human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine, after successfully producing coronavirus test kits early into the pandemic. The country also has several other COVID-19 candidate vaccines …

[Read more...] about First 35 volunteers receive injections of home-grown COVID-19 vaccine in second-stage trial

The municipal People’s Committee has ordered continued closure of dance halls, bars, karaoke parlours, pubs, beer clubs, and facilities for indoor sports activities like gym, fitness, billiards, and yoga centres. Others not included in this list can be reopened but have to carry out all anti-coronavirus measures regulated by health authorities. Besides, the set of safety assessment criteria in COVID-19 prevention and control must be seriously implemented in the fields of tourism, transport, and restaurant services, as well as at wholesale and retail markets, supermarkets, trade centres, relic sites, and libraries. A distance of at least one metre from each other must be kept in those activities, and food service supplying establishments are not permitted to serve more than 30 people at the same time, according to the administration. Meanwhile, religious activities and rituals at local places of worship can take place with no more than 50 participants at the same time. They also have to comply with other disease prevention measures regulated by the health sector, the People’s Committee said. Earlier, the committee also permitted schools across the city to be reopened from March 1. On February 23, the lockdown on an apartment block in Ward 13 of Tan Binh district was lifted. This was the last of the 35 sealed-off sites that had their COVID-19 lockdown removed in HCM City. Source: VNA …

[Read more...] about HCM City keeps shutdown of certain services in place