Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Wednesday requested Ho Chi Minh City ramp up travel restrictions to the highest level amid alarming coronavirus infection numbers. A document issued Wednesday by Chinh requested the southern city to introduce “strong, decisive and comprehensive measures to cut the chain of transmissions and bring coronavirus outbreaks under control.” The city absolutely cannot allow any further large gatherings or social distancing violations, the document stressed. HCMC would also need to coordinate with neighboring localities to control the flow of workers who live and work in different localities, including industrial parks and other businesses. “There needs to be strict management of those driving vehicles in and out of HCMC to prevent infection, while making sure goods are still transported without inhibition and business operations remain at the highest level possible amid ongoing outbreaks,” said Chinh. The city must also deploy measures to maintain daily life, especially the poor and vulnerable who have no savings to fall back on during hard times. People must not go hungry due to the pandemic, he added. While the city in its entirety has not officially been deemed a coronavirus hotspot yet, anyone who traveled from, to and between areas in the city must medically declare themselves. As of Wednesday noon, HCMC has recorded 8,002 local Covid-19 cases as part of the fourth wave, a 888 cases increase from Tuesday noon. Since the new wave started on April 27, Vietnam has recorded 19,238 local cases in 56 cities and provinces. Source: VnExpress

The information was released at the conference held by the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to review its performance in the first half of this year and set out plans for the second half of the year.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Fisheries Nguyen Quang Hung said that the first half of this year saw complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disruptions of global supply chains, drought and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta and the European Commission’s “yellow card” warning on Vietnam’s exploited seafood which affected Vietnam’s aquatic industry.

However, the aquatic industry still achieved positive results in the first half of this year. By the end of June 2021, about 4.1 million tonnes of aquatic products were produced, up 3% over the same period last year.

Shrimp and tra fish are the two items recording good results during the six-month period. Brackish water shrimp production was estimated to reach 371,000 tonnes in six months, up 12% over the same period in 2020.

The production of tra fish was reported at 704,100 tonnes by the end of June, up 0.9% over the same period in 2020 while the export revenue of tra fish was posted at US$637.9 million by the end of May, up 14.7% over the same period last year.

According to Hung, in the last six months of the year, the aquatic industry will focus on completing the set targets for the whole 2021 including achieving 8.6 million tonnes of aquatic products and an export turnover of US$8.5 billion.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien recognised the outstanding results of the aquatic sector in the first six months of the year. However, he also also noted a number of issues that the sector needs to focus on to balance all the three pillars of the sector including aquatic exploitation, conservation and aquaculture.

Source: Nhan Dan Online