Category: General

Botswana is set to emerge this week from an 18-month state of emergency that will remove the president’s emergency powers and end pandemic restrictions on trade and gatherings. While many shops, bars, and restaurants want to get back to normal, some in Botswana’s alcohol industry say it’s too soon to lift restrictions on night spots.
The minister of trade and industry, Kgafela Mmusi, says the end of the edict, set for this Thursday, means businesses can revert to normal trading hours. This includes the reopening of nightspots.
That should be welcome news to Botswana’s alcohol industry, which employs around 50,000 people, including those who work at bars, breweries and distributors.
But Botswana Beverages Association president Peter Noke warns some establishments might not be ready to reopen.
Those that do will likely have restrictions, including a ban on dancing.
He said they have requested that dance floors be converted into seating areas.
“There should be sufficient spacing between the tables and there will be no dancing,” he said. “If one wishes to dance, they can only do so while seated.”
Music promoter Zain Aftermath says the decision to eliminate the dance floor is ill-advised.
“How are you going to open clubs and then say people should not dance? It doesn’t make sense. I wouldn’t leave my house to go to a nightclub, pay and buy alcohol so that I can sit on a chair. It is going to affect attendance in a huge way,” he said.
Workers’ union leader Johannes Tshukudu welcomes the reopening as entertainment industry workers have been mostly out of work since March of last year. But he too, urges caution.
“We don’t expect full capacity at the beginning, we may decide to have half capacity at the venues so that at least so that we use that as an observation element. We don’t want to see this thing [opening of night clubs] as a trap by the government to justify reintroducing the state of emergency,” he said.
Minister Kgafela says the government will keep an eye on nightspots to ensure compliance with the rules.

Source: Voice of America

Facebook is putting its Instagram Kids project on hold amid growing concerns about potential harmful effects on young people, including anxiety and depression.
The idea is to provide youngsters with the Instagram social media experience but with no ads, more parental control and age-appropriate content.
U.S. lawmakers and advocacy groups have urged Facebook to scrap the plan entirely for safety concerns.
“Today is a watershed moment for the growing tech accountability movement and a great day for anyone who believes that children’s wellbeing should come before Big Tech’s profits,” said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, an advocacy group focused on children.
“We commend Facebook for listening to the many voices who have loudly and consistently told them that Instagram Youth will result in significant harms to children.”
Golin vowed to continue fighting against Instagram Kids “until they permanently pull the plug.”
While Instagram Kids would require parental permission to join, the company said it was putting the idea on pause to “continue to build opt-in parental supervision tools for teens,” the company said in a blog post.
“We’ll continue our work to allow parents to oversee their children’s accounts by expanding these tools to teen accounts (aged 13 and over) on Instagram.”
The company said the reality is that kids are online and that a product like Instagram Kids would be “better for parents.”
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported internal Facebook documents showed the company knows Instagram can have harmful effects on teens, particularly girls. According to the Journal, Facebook has done little to address the issue.

Source: Voice of America

A new era of American golfers sent a message Sunday with a record-setting Ryder Cup blowout of Europe, their young, talented core players looking ready to dominate for years.
With eight under-30 players and six Ryder Cup rookies, the Americans completed a 19-9 rout of Europe at Whistling Straits that signaled a generational change to the world.
Farewell Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Say hello to Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, U.S. PGA playoff champion Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler, 20-something stars.
“We have a lot of young guys, they’re going to be on teams for a long time and I wanted to send a message,” said Cantlay. “Everyone has that killer instinct and we’re going to bring that to future Cups.”
The most lopsided victory since the U.S.-Europe format began in 1979 served notice that a squad with nine of the world’s 11 top-ranked players was on a mission.
“This is a new era for USA golf,” U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “They are young. They are motivated. They wanted it. They come with a lot of energy, a lot of passion, a lot of game. It’s exciting to see. This is a very special group of guys.”
Third-ranked Morikawa, 24, and fourth-ranked Cantlay, 29, each delivered 3.5 points. Fifth-ranked Schauffele, 27, had 3 points and world number 21 Scheffler, 25, had 2.5, the last in a singles win over world number one Jon Rahm of Spain.
And they were all rookies along with 11th-ranked Harris English, 32, and 16th-ranked Daniel Berger, 28.
“We showed the world what we can do as a team and I think it’s the precedent for the future of American golf,” said US veteran Tony Finau.
Pals Cantlay and Schauffele figure to be a U.S. pairs powerhouse for years, and the clubhouse chemistry promises a tighter bond than prior eras.
“I think the young guys on this team get along really well,” Cantlay said. “We sent out rookies four out of the first five (singles) matches. That’s unheard of. Everybody gets along.”
Morikawa delivered the Cup clinching half-point in a tie with Norway’s Viktor Hovland, and Cantlay beat Ireland’s Shane Lowry, while Scheffler’s upset, and Bryson DeChambeau’s win over Sergio Garcia silenced Europe’s winningest players for the week when it mattered most.
Europe veteran Lee Westwood delivered high praise to the conquerors.
“It’s not just the strongest U.S. team I’ve seen, but they all played well, to a man,” he said. “Everybody performed and turned up this week. Looks like they are a team.”
At the next Ryder Cup in 2023 in Italy, the new-look Americans will try to win the trophy on foreign soil for the first time since 1993.
“We’ve lost a lot looking back at the past. But that’s the past. We’re hopefully what the future is going to be like,” Morikawa said. “Hopefully we can turn that tide in our favor for however many years I’m able to play this.”

Source: Voice of America

After more than 18 months of COVID-19 isolation, Australia is preparing to reopen its international borders by Christmas “at the latest.” Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan said some of the world’s toughest coronavirus travel restrictions would be relaxed when 80% of Australians are fully vaccinated. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Australia has some of the world’s toughest coronavirus travel restrictions. Since March 2020, entry has been banned for most foreign nationals, while quotas have been put on returning citizens and permanent residents, who face two weeks’ mandatory hotel quarantine when they arrive.

Australians wanting to leave the country need government permission under strict rules implemented in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Under a national reopening plan, Australians would be allowed to freely travel overseas again once 80% of people over 16 have been fully vaccinated. Just under half of the population has received two doses of a vaccine currently. The government also plans to allow returning Australians who have received approved vaccines — AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — to quarantine at home.

Australia plans to begin a trial of vaccine passports to facilitate travel to various countries including the United States, Britain, Singapore and Japan. The digital documents, which would indicate that the holder has been fully inoculated, would be linked to so-called QR Codes, or type of bar code on a phone app. When scanned they would show a copy of a passenger's passport and their vaccination status.

Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan hopes to have the system ready by late December.

"We continue to do all that preparatory work so that when those international borders open, and as I said in my speech, hopefully at the latest by Christmas, that Australians will be able to travel with a QR code linked to their passport, which will be able to show a proof of vaccination,” said Tehan.

Fully immunized foreigners would also be allowed to travel to Australia if they can prove their COVID-19 vaccination status. As an alternative to mandatory hotel quarantine, international travelers could self-isolate with family, friends or at their holiday accommodation.

Australia’s strict COVID-19 travel regulations have left many citizens and permanent residents stranded overseas. More than 44,000 Australians have registered to come home with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Many airlines, including Singapore airlines, recently cut commercial flights to Australia because of cuts to the number of Australians allowed home each week.

Australia is the only democratic country to refuse entry to its citizens due to capacity constraints in the hotel quarantine system and impose restrictions on those wanting to leave the country.

Australia has recorded about 90,000 coronavirus infections and 1,186 fatalities since the pandemic began.

Source: Voice of America

U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday new “real world” and phase 3 study data show a second shot of its single-dose vaccine about two months after the initial shot increased its effectiveness to 94%.

In a news release on its website, the company said its clinical trial in the United States showed the booster shot also provided as much as 100 percent protection against severe or critical COVID-19 symptoms beginning at least 14 days after final vaccination.

The company also said there was no evidence of reduced effectiveness over the study duration, including when the delta variant became dominant in the U.S.

They said tests performed outside the U.S. showed it provided up to 87% protection against severe or critical COVID-19. The company also said a booster given six months after the initial dose saw antibody levels increase by nine times one week after the booster and continued to climb as high as 12-fold.

On Friday, an FDA advisory committee voted to recommend emergency authorization of additional Pfizer shots for Americans 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness, but voted to recommend against broader approval, saying it wants to see more data.

J&J said it has submitted data to the FDA and plans to submit it to other regulators, the World Health Organization and other vaccine advisory groups worldwide to inform their decision-making.

Source: Voice of America

Hundreds of people demonstrated Tuesday in Australia’s second-largest city to protest coronavirus restrictions the government imposed on the construction industry.

Officials announced construction sites in Melbourne would be closed for two weeks amid concerns that the movement of workers was contributing to the spread of COVID-19.

Construction workers are also now required to have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine before being allowed to return to work.

Victoria state, where Melbourne is located, reported 603 new cases on Tuesday, the most infections there in a single day this year.

In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Tuesday that fines for breaking coronavirus protocols would increase starting in November.

The changes would change the fine for someone intentionally failing to comply with a COVID-19 order from about $2,800 to $8,400. Those breaking the restrictions could also face up to six months in prison.

Businesses that violate coronavirus restrictions could face fines of up to $10,500.

“Our success has been really based on the fact that people by and large have been compliant,” Ardern said at a news conference. “However, there has been the odd person that has broken the rules and put others at risk.”

Meanwhile, Governor Jay Inslee, of the western U.S. state of Washington, is asking the federal government for help dealing with the strain on hospitals as the delta variant drives large numbers of infections.

Inslee sent a letter Monday to Jeffrey Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, saying hospitals in his state are at or beyond capacity and that he is requesting military personnel to help staff hospitals.

“Once the Delta variant hit Washington state, COVID-19 hospitalizations skyrocketed,” Inslee said. “From mid-July to late August, we saw hospitalizations double about every two weeks. The hospitals have surged to increase staffed beds and stretch staff and have canceled most non-urgent procedures but are still over capacity across the state.”

New daily infections and the number of people hospitalized in Washington are at or near their highest levels during the pandemic.

Washington health officials report 69% of people aged 12 years and older in the state are fully vaccinated.

That is higher than the national figure, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 64% of the population age 12 and older being fully vaccinated.

The Pfizer and BioNTech drug companies said Monday that lower-dose shots of their two-dose COVID-19 vaccine are safe and effective for 5- to 11-year-old children.

The U.S. company and its German partner BioNTech said trials showed the vaccine was well tolerated and robust, neutralizing antibody responses at the lower dose levels necessary in younger children.

Pfizer said it planned soon to seek authorization to use the vaccine in younger patients in the United States, Britain and the European Union, a move that could greatly expand the scope of the vaccination effort. About 28 million U.S. children fall into the age range, and millions of adults have still declined to get the jab.

Pfizer said it studied a lower dose — one-third the strength of the adult dose — in tests involving more than 2,200 kindergartners and elementary school students. Two-thirds of the children were given the vaccine, and the remaining third were given saltwater shots. The company said the vaccinated children developed antibody levels that were just as strong as those exhibited by teenagers and young adults.

With students now back in school and the delta variant spreading throughout the United States, many parents have been anxious for government health officials to approve the vaccine for their young children.

Compared with older people, children are at lower risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but more than 5 million children in the United States have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least 460 have died, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

U.S. vaccine maker Moderna is also studying its shots in young children. Both Pfizer and Moderna are studying using the vaccine in infants as young as 6 months, with results expected later this year.

On Monday, deaths in the United States from COVID-19 reached 675,975, surpassing deaths from the 1918 Spanish flu.

Source: Voice of America

World leaders are returning to the United Nations in New York this week with a focus on boosting efforts to fight both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which last year forced them to send video statements for the annual gathering.

As the coronavirus still rages amid an inequitable vaccine rollout, about a third of the 193 U.N. states are planning to again send videos, but presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers for the remainder are due to travel to the United States.

The United States tried to dissuade leaders from coming to New York in a bid to stop the U.N. General Assembly from becoming a "super-spreader event," although President Joe Biden will address the assembly in person, his first U.N. visit since taking office. A so-called U.N. honor system means that anyone entering the assembly hall effectively declares they are vaccinated, but they do not have to show proof.

This system will be broken when the first country speaks -- Brazil. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is a vaccine skeptic, who last week declared that he does not need the shot because he is already immune after being infected with COVID-19.

Should he change his mind, New York City has set up a van outside the United Nations for the week to supply free testing and free shots of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Reuters that the discussions around how many traveling diplomats might have been immunized illustrated "how dramatic the inequality is today in relation to vaccination." He is pushing for a global plan to vaccinate 70% of the world by the first half of next year.

Out of 5.7 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines administered around the world, only 2% have been in Africa.

Biden will host a virtual meeting from Washington with leaders and chief executives on Wednesday that aims to boost the distribution of vaccines globally.

Demonstrating U.S. COVID-19 concerns about the U.N. gathering, Biden will be in New York only for about 24 hours, meeting with Guterres on Monday and making his first U.N. address on Tuesday, directly after Bolsonaro.

His U.N. envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Biden would "speak to our top priorities: ending the COVID-19 pandemic; combating climate change ... and defending human rights, democracy, and the international rules-based order."

Due to the pandemic, U.N. delegations are restricted to much smaller numbers and most events on the sidelines will be virtual or a hybrid of virtual and in-person. Among other topics that ministers are expected to discuss during the week are Afghanistan and Iran.

But before the annual speeches begin, Guterres and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will start the week with a summit on Monday to try and save a U.N. summit -- that kicks off in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oct. 31 -- from failure.

As scientists warn that global warming is dangerously close to spiraling out of control, the U.N. COP26 conference aims to wring much more ambitious climate action and the money to go with it from participants around the globe.

"It's time to read the alarm bell," Guterres told Reuters last week. "We are on the verge of the abyss."

Source: Voice of America

Millions of Americans who were thrown out of work in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic are now encountering a hot jobs market with businesses eager, even desperate, to hire them.

But amid continued spread of the delta COVID-19 variant, workers are trickling, not rushing, back into the labor market, despite the expiration of augmented federal unemployment benefits and offers of higher wages in some sectors.

Consumers eager to spend money would normally be a boon to the service industry in Charlotte, North Carolina. But businesses here, as in many parts of the United States, can’t find enough workers to accommodate the demand.

Help wanted signs are ubiquitous in storefronts across the city, where, since May 2020, the local unemployment rate has fallen from nearly 14% to less than 5%.

“Oh, there's business here,” Brixx Wood Fired Pizza general manager Lethr’ Rotherttold VOA. "The restaurant stays busy and we're making loads of money, but I don't have the staff to keep up.”

It’s a similar situation at The Giddy Goat Coffee Roasters, an independent outfit with a unique business model of roasting coffee beans in-store and right in front of customers. The coffee shop was launched during the pandemic and has struggled to keep up with demand.

“When we think we’re good [for workers], the volume increases, and we suddenly need more help,” said manager Enzo Pazos. “Two people go to school, that’s two less staff on hand, so it’s kind of like it’s never enough.”

“You’re seeing variations of this same theme of a worker shortage across the country,” economist Matthew Metzgar of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte told VOA.

Metzgar notes that a federal economic stimulus program provided some workers with higher temporary incomes than they had received at their old jobs before the pandemic.

“What’s happening is of course with that higher unemployment compensation, people are less willing to work and people are less willing to accept lower wages,” Metzgar said.

Others who remain unemployed say they are reluctant to take jobs that would put them in close contact with the public at a time when the United States is averaging more than 1,500 COVID-19 deaths a day.

“Most people that have stayed on unemployment have done it for safety reasons, it seems,” job seeker Alex Jordan Ku said. “I have some friends on unemployment, and their safety was their main concern. They haven't been looking for jobs They kind of just went back home to live with their parents so they can be without jobs for a while until things feel safe to them.”

Yet another problem keeping many people out of the workforce has been a shortage of affordable child care – a problem that was exacerbated by COVID-related school closures and remote learning that have forced many parents to remain at home with their children.

That problem may be easing as schools are reopening across the country this fall, but the parents of younger children are still finding it hard to secure placements in child care facilities, which are themselves impacted by difficulty in hiring enough qualified staff.

In a move partly aimed at getting more people back to work, the Biden administration is promoting enhanced child care subsidies as part of a proposed $3.5 trillion plan to fund infrastructure and social safety net programs.

This month’s expiration of supplemental unemployment benefits should force at least some workers back into the labor pool as their bank accounts run dry. But Metzgar says many potential workers are less than eager to return to jobs that pay less than what they received in benefits.

“From the worker’s point of view, there is resistance to coming back to lower-wage positions, and in some situations, there may not be much to entice them back in,” he said.

Adequate compensation

At a recent jobs fair in the neighboring state of Virginia, securing adequate compensation was on the minds of many prospective applicants, several of whom stressed factors beyond an hourly wage.

“What I'm looking for is something where there's long-term stability, and benefits are important,” Lisette Bez told VOA at the Leesburg, Virginia, event. Even though she has run out of unemployment benefits, Bez indicated she is holding out for a job that includes things like generous health insurance benefits.

“The cost of insurance these days continues to go up. And I think for a lot of people that's a huge concern,” she said. “So it's not just enough to have a job that will pay you a certain amount. You have to have those other things.”

While employers have no control over the pandemic, they do have leeway in what they offer to entice workers, say labor advocates.

“In all candor, raising wages is the only thing that’s going to be bringing people back to work,” Charlotte labor organizer William Voltz told VOA.

Voltz, president of Unite Here’s Local 23, a union for airport employees, said workers need an hourly wage in the $17-$22 range to get by, far higher than the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

“Unfortunately, to live in Charlotte you really have to make a livable wage to be able to afford housing and life’s necessities,” he said.

Message heard

Amid fierce competition for labor, a growing number of U.S. employers big and small are sweetening wage and benefits packages offered to job seekers. E-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. recently boosted its average starting wage to $18 an hour, up from a $15 minimum wage the company set before the pandemic.

In Charlotte, Giddy Goat founder Carson Clough said he expects a certain amount of negotiation in determining compensation for new employees.

“If workers do have requests regarding pay and benefits, I am all ears,” Clough told VOA. “My business partner and I started off with the mindset [in] which we’re going to try and meet high-end wage requests, even prior to the pandemic. I’d be very open to hearing different demands, such as ‘How can I go do this’ or ‘How can this be a part of the package’ or something like that.”

Flexibility and creativity will be key to hiring and retaining workers going forward, according to Metzgar.

“Companies may consider thinking about bringing on workers that could contribute in multiple ways, doing something that brings value to the business. This would be a win-win, it would allow the worker to be invested, while the worker receives a higher wage in return,” the economist said.

“The point is to reimagine some of these positions so that the workers have the opportunity to produce more value, so managers set up workers to flourish to produce value for the company, which again comes with higher wages for the worker,” he added.

Source: Voice of America

The European Union is pledging to donate 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries by mid-2022.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the pledge Wednesday in Strasbourg, France during her annual State of the European Union speech before the European Parliament. Von der Leyen said the 200 million doses the EU plans to contribute is in addition to an earlier promise of 250 million doses, which she described as “an investment in solidarity, and it is an investment in global health.”

Von der Leyen said “the scale of injustice and the level of urgency is obvious” with less than 1% of all global doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in low- and middle-income countries.

“Let’s do everything possible so that it does not turn into a pandemic of the non-vaccinated,” she told the EU lawmakers.

US Army requirement

Meanwhile, U.S. Army officials issued a mandatory vaccination order for all uniformed personnel. Officials said Tuesday that the Army expects all active-duty soldiers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 15, while imposing a deadline of June 30, 2022 for all Reserve and National Guard soldiers.

The statement said soldiers who refuses the vaccine will “be first counseled by their chain of command and medical providers,” but warns that if they continue to refuse and have not been exempted from the vaccine, they will be suspended from their duties or even dismissed from the service.

Alaska situation

In the United States, the largest hospital in the remote northwest state of Alaska announced Tuesday that it has begun rationing care due to a raging outbreak of new COVID-19 infections. Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, the state’s largest city, said Tuesday it is now operating under a policy of “crisis standard of care,” meaning the hospital is unable to provide an equal quality of medical care to all patients.

The hospital said in a statement that an overflow of COVID-19 patients in its emergency room has left other patients waiting in their cars for hours before they are seen by a doctor for urgent care.

Providence Alaska Medical Center joins a growing number of hospitals across the U.S. who have been forced to ration or even deny medical care to their communities as COVID-19 patients fill their halls beyond capacity.

Source: Voice of America

As the delta variant of COVID-19 has surged through Vietnam over the past two months, the country’s central provinces have endured the strictest lockdown measures to date.

As of Tuesday, the country had recorded 624,547 confirmed cases and 15,660 deaths, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

Both foreigners and locals have been complaining that food and water supplies have been mishandled because of restrictions on motorbike delivery people known locally as “shippers.” When the full lockdown was announced three days in advance it caused people to rush to stock up at local markets.

'Directive 16'

On July 22, the government issued “Directive 16,” an official notice to follow stay-at-home orders, for the coastal city of Da Nang. Under the new directive, residents couldn't leave their homes. Non-essential businesses were shut, food shipping stopped and residents were banned from exiting Da Nang without official written permission.

Ward leaders were mobilized to the various neighborhoods, enforcing curfews and issuing order forms to residents for food and water deliveries. If residents were in green zones, they were allowed out during a two-hour period but only in close proximity to their homes. Some ward bosses provided free groceries consisting of a few different vegetables and instant noodles.

Supermarket aisles emptied, and anxiety about a Wuhan-style lockdown was starting to collectively set in. Expatriates and locals have been panicking and venting their frustrations in online forums.

“Why wasn’t there a concrete plan for food supply chains if outbreaks were to get this bad, that’s what I am most angry about,” said Brian Edwards, a British national whose name has been changed for privacy. Because of an existing respiratory problem, Edwards was afraid to go out into crowded spaces such as supermarkets and is relying on local contacts to help him receive food.

In August, Da Nang color-coded its neighborhoods based on infection rate data and provided an online map. All wards underwent mass COVID-19 testing every three days in spaces where social distancing was not possible and people became concerned these might become superspreader events.

Vaccine availability an issue

Until recently, Vietnam had received widespread acclaim for its handling of COVID-19, but a slow vaccine rollout has become its Achilles’ heel. There is a consensus that Vietnamese authorities relied too heavily on donated vaccines as opposed to buying them.

“Most local people want the vaccine in Vietnam — maybe not the Chinese-made Sinopharm — but the rollout of any vaccines has been too slow, and you know, people just follow orders and rarely say anything critical about the top,” said Nguyen Tung, a Da Nang local, whose name has been changed to protect his privacy.

Tung thinks the government is showing signs of strain in communicating information to the public and the strict lockdowns could continue into next year, especially in Ho Chi Minh. He says the authorities will eventually need to stop the strict lockdowns and let the country move toward natural immunity while allowing the economy to open back up.

Some people are worried the authorities might be stockpiling vaccines and money might go into the wrong hands. Vaccine scams save already emerged, with some people being overcharged for the shots or receiving fake vaccines. As of September, less than 4% of Vietnam’s adult population has received two shots, and 16.5% have received a single shot. Much of the vaccine rollout has been concentrated in Ho Chi Minh, which has the highest case rate nationwide. Military personnel have been dispatched to the city to manage the lockdown there.

Many foreigners marooned in Da Nang have encountered problems renewing their tourist visas. At the same time, they are also finding it difficult to leave the country because of the strict lockdown and lack of domestic and international flights.

As of Tuesday, leaving the central provinces of Vietnam requires flight tickets, a COVID-19 test, and a written letter of permission to leave from an embassy or city police authorization. Those leaving need to hire a private car to drive them to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh, depending on the departing city. The cost is roughly 7.5 million dong ($330) per person if ride-shared, and the journey itself can take up to 24 hours depending on traffic and the time required to pass through provincial checkpoints.

In Facebook groups, people have been lamenting that visa agents are overcharging them for extending their visas or local immigration officials making them pay excessive overstay fines at the airport. Expatriates’ main gripes include lack of communication or miscommunication between the government and foreigners residing in Vietnam and the ever-changing rules.

“They (immigration officials) are so corrupt, they will try to make money from you in any way possible,” wrote one foreigner on Facebook about his recent exit experience.

“There is no reliable information, nobody knows what’s going on and they are making it impossible to leave,” said Mark Warth, an Australian national who is desperate to leave Vietnam with his wife. His name has been changed to protect his privacy.

The dearth of reliable information has likely prompted Vietnamese authorities to implement a new hotline for foreigners in Da Nang; however, responses have been either slow or nonexistent.

Most expatriates in Da Nang are English teachers. Due to the closure of many local schools and the recent worldwide termination of most foreign teaching contracts with online Chinese schools, many foreign teachers are struggling financially. And the situation for the poorest locals has worsened as the Vietnamese economy slows.

“Many local people are starving and haven’t had paid work for a long time,” said Nga Hanh, a local woman working as a consultant in Da Nang whose name has been changed to protect her privacy.

Hanh has a brother who works for the government. His salary has been slashed in half since last year, but he says he is one of the lucky ones to still have a job.

“Some of my friends in the tourism industry haven’t worked for over a year,” Hanh said.

Her sister, a nurse, has been forced to stay in the hospital and work 24-hour shifts since the latest lockdown began, and she isn’t being paid for overtime.

“It must be so terrible for the really poor people here in my country right now. Nobody takes care of the poor people adequately,” said Hanh.

Source: Voice of America