An award ceremony was held on December 24 to honour winners of a contest on the compilation of Vietnamese language learning materials for overseas Vietnamese.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien has asked the Directorate of Fisheries to pool all possible resources and take synchronous measures to soon remove “yellow card” warning on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Việt Nam’s rolling seven-day average of new COVID-19 incidences on Friday stood at 16,041, up by over 700 compared to a week ago.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, on behalf of the Prime Minister, has recently signed a directive requesting the intensified implementation of the scheme on incorporation of human rights contents in the national education system.

The media needs to keep working on improving its credibility by publishing “timely, accurate and comprehensive” stories, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phạm Anh Tuấn has said.

A webinar held on December 24 pointed out the need to develop sustainable livelihoods for residents in the buffer zones of nature reserves and national parks so as to help with forest conservation.

HCM City wants the Government to help increase the supply of liquid oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients since it is unable to procure enough for its hospitals.

News agencies need to promote co-operation with authorities and technology businesses to achieve digital transformation, Lâm Đình Thắng, director of the HCM City Department of Information and Communications, has said.

The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu has reduced the number of poor households to 842, or 1.45 percent of the province’s total households, by providing soft loans, vocational skills, and sustainable livelihood models to the poor.

The Ministry of Health has distributed 200,000 tablets of the antiviral drug Molnupiravir in Hà Nội as the number of infections in the capital city continue to increase.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has asked localities to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations as the pandemic rages on across the nation and infections continue to rise.

Meritorious Artist Thanh Kim Huệ died of cancer on December 23 in HCM City. She was 66. 

Ho Chi Minh City launched the first tourism week named “Ho Chi Minh City – The city I love” on December 24, aiming to spread pride and love of the city among people, and encourage both domestic and international tourists to visit the city.

The famous acrobat brothers, Giang Quốc Cơ and Giang Quốc Nghiệp, set a new world record in head-to-head balancing on December 23 in Catalonia, Spain.

A trial has begun of 10 employees of a private university accused of issuing counterfeit English certificates to hundreds of people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will continue to work with the Government of Việt Nam to plan for and transition towards adaptation to an endemic COVID-19 and learning to ‘live safely with the virus’ in the long term, even when there are new surges in the future.

Businesses in HCM City are expected to recruit an additional 33,000-42,000 employees until the year end, with part-time and seasonal jobs accounting for a majority, according to the city's Centre for Human Resource Forecast and Labour Information.

Every Christmas the Catholic neighbourhood in District 8’s Pham The Hien Street and other of its similar areas across HCM City are filled with colourful decorations and nativity scenes set up by religious families. This year although some families have skipped creating the colourful scenes, others are still decking their halls with boughs of Holly.

The HCM City People’s Council has approved a legal framework for the management of urban architecture, with a focus on public land in the city centre, especially near the first metro line’s Bến Thành station.