Vietnamese families often visit their ancestors’ tombs and clean gravesites whenever the Lunar New Year (Tet) comes, normally from the 23rd of the last month of the lunar year, which falls on January 25 this year, to New Year’s Eve.

Workers and students in HCM City have been offered free rides home this Tết (Lunar New Year), a gesture of support with the hope that everyone can be reunited with the family on this occasion.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has instructed ministries and localities not to be negligent and to remain ready to fight against the pandemic. 

Việt Nam will organise a nationwide rapid vaccination campaign, running from January 29 to February 28, according to Minister of Health Nguyễn Thanh Long.

The investigation agency under the Ministry of Public Security has seized, blocked and averted real estate transactions and accounts worth 1.22 trillion VND (53.86 million USD) relating to the case of COVID-19 test kit developer Viet A Technologies JSC, an officer said on January 28.

The Investigation Security Agency under the Ministry of Public Security has prosecuted a case of taking bribes at the Consular Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while licensing the firms that conducted repatriation flights for Vietnamese people.

Localities must create optimal conditions for people to return to their hometowns during the coming Tet (Lunar New Year) Festival, Minister - Chairman of the Government Office Tran Van Son said at a regular press conference of the Government on January 28.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on January 28 decided to reduce death penalties to life sentences for four prisoners, on the occasion of the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.

A programme on socio-economic recovery and development is set to be issued before the Tet (Lunar New Year), which falls on February 1 this year, according to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong.

The Mausoleum of President Ho Chi Minh will be open to the public on January 31 (the last day of the lunar year), the Management Board of the site has announced.

The HCM City Department of Construction has proposed that the administration should provide VNĐ100 billion at low interest rates for people leasing out houses to workers to make upgrades and repairs to them.

The capital city of Hà Nội recorded 2,885 COVID-19 infections on Friday, as Việt Nam posted a daily rise of 14,929  cases.

COVID-19 update for January 28

The Ambassador of Israel to Việt Nam Nadav Eshcar recently surprised the public by performing the song Ngày Tết quê em (New Year's Day in my hometown) in Vietnamese.

In the past ten days, about 10 million doses have been administered, a daily average of one million shots.

HCM City has basically contained the local spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19.

From March 1, the registration fee rate for land and houses will be 0.5 percent of registration fee calculation prices set by provincial-level People’s Committees, according to Decree 10 recently issued by the Government.

More than 17.12 million, or 75.71 percent of the total pupils and students nationwide, are likely to return to school for face-to-face learning from February 7 after Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays, according to the Ministry of Education and Training.

A delegation of the National Assembly (NA)’s office on January 28 handed over Lunar New Year (Tet) gifts of NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to social welfare beneficiaries and poor households in the northern province of Thai Nguyen.

Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Bình Minh recently agreed to increase the frequency of commercial international flights, while applying the latest testing procedure as issued by the authorities.