Ho Chi Minh City is ready for a memorial service for COVID-19 victims. (Photo: TPO)
The memorial service will also serve as a source of encouragement to frontline forces and raise people’s sense of responsibility for COVID-19 prevention and control measures.
The event is scheduled to take place at the city’s Reunification Palace at 08pm, and will be connected to Hanoi and other cities and provinces nationwide.
Buddhist churches across the country will ring the bell, light candles, offer incense and pray for those who died of the disease.
In Ho Chi Minh City, local people will turn off lights and burn candles in public places such as pedestrian zones, parks, residential areas, apartment blocks and others to commemorate the deceased.
The fourth wave of COVID-19 that started in late April 2021 has left more than 23,000 people dead nationwide, 74% of whom were recorded in Ho Chi Minh City alone.
Vietnamese student wins 2021 Microsoft Office contest
Nguyen Duc Phat from the Vietnam Maritime University has won a silver medal at the 2021 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship (MOSWC), reported Vietnam News Agency.
Nguyen Duc Phat (Source: giaoduc.net.vn)
To secure the medal for the Microsoft Excel 2016 category, Phat has surpassed hundreds of competitors from nearly 100 nations and territories.
Earlier, the student championed the MOSWC - Viettel 2021, which was participated by nearly 1,800 students from across Vietnam.
Phat said he learned the Microsft Excel in high school and has been worked hard to sharpen his skills.
Presented by the US-based Certiport, Inc. since 2002, MOSWC is a global competition that tests students’ skills on Microsoft Office Word, Excel® and PowerPoint®. Top students aged between 13 and 22 are invited to represent their respective countries at the World Championship. In some countries or regions, students are required to participate in a national championship, and the winners of that event go on to the World Championship.
Its 2021 edition marked Vietnam’s 12th year participating in the contest.
Da Nang welcomes international tourists in three phases
After a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the central city of Da Nang has opened its door to international tourists under a three-phase pilot road map, reported Vietnam News Agency.
Dragon Bridge spanning the Han River in Da Nang city (Photo: VNA)
In the first phase from this November, Da Nang, a large travel hub in the central region, is welcoming foreign visitors through package tours, charter flights, and international commercial flights to the designated areas and tourism service establishments in Phu Quoc city (Kien Giang province), Da Nang, and the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, and Quang Ninh.
In the second phase from January 2022, the city will expand the group of international tourists it is reopened to. They can also take part in tours of destinations in the five abovementioned localities.
It will completely reopen to international tourists in the third phase, whose beginning will depend on the pandemic situation and outcomes of the first two phases.
Foreign visitors welcomed at the Da Nang International Airport (Photo: VNA)
The municipal Department of Tourism said the reopening to international travellers aims to gradually recover the tourism industry and related sectors, helping guarantee social security and popularise Da Nang as a safe and attractive destination.
Foreign visitors to the city between November 2021 and February 2022 will be mainly overseas Vietnamese and from several key markets like the Republic of Korea and Japan, according to the department.
On November 17, a Vietnam Airlines flight from the Republic of Korea landed at Da Nang International Airport, carrying the first international visitors to Vietnam after a long period of pandemic-triggered suspension. After landing, they moved to Hoi An city of neighbouring Quang Nam province to spend their registered holiday there.
Vietnam among top 10 countries with largest installed solar power capacity
Visual Capitalist, one of the fastest growing publishers globally which focuses on producing content on energy, technology, and the global economy, has listed Vietnam among the world’s top 10 for largest installed solar power capacity, reported the Voice of Vietnam.
Vietnam ranks 8th place in the list of top 10 countries with largest installed solar power capacity (Photo: Screenshot from Visual Capitalist)
The website quoted data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) which mapped the solar power capacity of each country during the year. This includes both solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power capacity.
The results indicate that the country ranked in eighth place in the list, with the capacity of installed solar power nationwide reaching 16,504 MW, accounting for 2.3% of global capacity. Indeed, its solar power capacity reached 60 W per capita.
China remains as the undisputed leader in terms of solar installations, with 35.6% of global capacity, according to Visual Capitalist. The country has the world’s largest wind and solar project in the pipeline, which could add a further 400,000MW to its overall clean energy capacity.
Following behind China is the United States, which reached 75,572 MW of solar power capacity, making up 10.6%.
The remaining countries among the top 10 include Japan with 9.4%, Germany with 7.5%, India with 5.5%, Australia with 2.5%, the Republic of Korea with 2%, and Spain with 2%./.