Close to the limit of insolvency According to the director of Sao Viet car company, production and business revenue is almost zero, but every day still has to bear countless expenses such as bank interest; rent for factories, warehouses, salaries to support officials, employees, drivers; road maintenance fees … A series of passenger transport enterprises are in the “swallowing” scene. “Before the epidemic, on average, each month we spent about 3 billion dong on salaries and bonuses for drivers and employees. However, today, even though there is no revenue, we still have to “burden” nearly 1 billion dong/month “- Mr. Bang stated. Not only road transport, the air transport market has suffered the most severe decline ever, prompting the Ministry of Planning and Investment to issue a warning that the solvency of enterprises is declining close to the limit of insolvency. maths. For example, the national airline of Vietnam (Vietnam Airlines), it is expected that the loss of the first quarter of 2021 will be at VND 4,800 billion and in the first six months of the year may reach VND 10,000 billion. Currently, the amount of overdue debt has reached VND 6,240 billion and is in a very difficult situation. Vietnam Airlines has more than 9,000 employees who are on unpaid leave and temporary suspension of labor contracts. Most transport businesses are facing great difficulties due to the Covid-19 epidemic Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) also lost 50% of passenger transport revenue in the past 5 months due to people restricting travel, the railway industry had to cut many passenger trains. Mr. Nguyen Cong Hung, Chairman of the Hanoi Taxi Association, said that the number of passengers decreased by 80%-90%, revenue fell seriously, and workers’ lives were difficult. A series of taxi companies are facing the risk of bankruptcy, and bad debts are at high risk of increasing in the banking system. Therefore, recently, the Taxi Associations of Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City have jointly signed a document to send to the Prime Minister, proposing to support taxi transport enterprises to overcome difficulties before the Covid-19 pandemic. Proposing many solutions Facing the above situation, the Prime Minister has just assigned the Ministry of Transport to consider and propose policies and solutions to support passenger transport enterprises facing difficulties due to the Covid-19 epidemic. to border gates and between regions in the domestic market. According to Mr. Tran Bao Ngoc, Director of the Transport Department (Ministry of Transport), since the outbreak of the epidemic, the Ministry of Transport has proposed policies and solutions to support transport enterprises in difficulty. Regarding the solution to remove the vehicle inspection cycle, Mr. Ngoc said that the Ministry of Transport is amending Circular No. 70/2015 in the direction of adjusting the inspection cycle of passenger cars of all kinds up to 9 seats with transportation business. , adjusted from 18 months to 24 months for the first cycle and from 6 to 12 months for the recurring cycle. In addition, the Ministry of Transport also proposed that the Government delay the time of sanctioning transport enterprises that do not install surveillance cameras due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. Regarding the proposal to exempt road maintenance fees until the end of this year, Mr. Ngoc said that in order to remove difficulties for those affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, Circular 112/2020 of the Ministry of Finance allows to reduce collect road user fees from January 1 to June 30, 2021. “The Ministry of Transport has proposed to the Government to reduce value-added tax to 0%, reduce 50% of corporate income tax for industries seriously damaged by the epidemic. Besides, delay payment of tax amount for 6 months for 6 months. arrears until December 31, 2021 and there is no fee for parking, parking and picking up passengers at the airport, train station, port and 50% discount on service prices through the bus station for passenger cars. sign for new registered vehicles for transport business until December 31,” said Mr. Ngoc. It is still difficult to access support policies As a large passenger transport enterprise in Quang Ninh province, Mr. Doan The Xuyen, director of Phuc Xuyen Co., Ltd., said that the company has over 300 vehicles that have stopped working but still have not been exempted from road maintenance fees because of cumbersome procedures. . For example, to be exempted under the regulations of the Ministry of Finance, the vehicle must stop working for 30 days or more, then return the badge and be certified by the Department of Transport. “You can stop for less than 30 days to be able to run again, then you have to apply for a new badge. Many businesses still have to pay even though the car is not running because they are afraid of procedures,” said Xuyen.

A continuous red-fire manual cremation in India. Photo: Reuters For the fourth day in a row, on April 25, India set a global record for the number of new infections, stemming from a new virus variant sweeping, overwhelming every effort by the populous nation. world number 2. According to AP, the report of the Indian Ministry of Health on April 25 recorded 349,691 new cases, bringing the total number of cases in this country to over 16.9 million cases, the second most in the world after the US. In addition, there were 2,767 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the number of COVID-19 deaths in India to 192,311. Experts say that the actual death toll could be much greater, since it does not include suspected cases, and many deaths from COVID-19 are attributed to underlying medical conditions. . The Indian crisis is most evident in cemeteries, cremations and cremations, or in heartbreaking images of a series of suffocating patients on their way to a hospital due to lack of oxygen. India set a world record for the fourth consecutive day with the number of new infections reaching nearly 350,000 people. Photo: Reuters Cremation sites in the Indian capital New Delhi are running out of space and fiery cremation rigs lit up all night in other heavily affected cities. In the city center of Bhopal, a number of cremators have increased their capacity from a few dozen bodies to over 50 a day. However, bodies awaiting cremation still have to wait. At the city’s Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematorium, workers said they cremated more than 110 people on April 24, although figures from the city government of 1.8 million people only report the total number of deaths. because COVID-19 that day was 10 people. Mamtesh Sharma, a location official, said: “The virus is devouring the people of our city like a monster.” Watch the video of the painful scene of disinfection and cremation of the body of the COVID-19 victim in India (Source: Sky news) The massive influx of bodies has forced cremators to skip all the personal rituals and rituals that Hindus believe will help liberate souls. “We burned the bodies as soon as we arrived,” said Mr. Sharma. It was as if we were in the middle of a war. A monk rushed out of the cremation area of ​​COVID-19’s body after the ceremony. Photo: Getty Images Cremation of the body of COVID-19 victim with firewood in New Delhi on April 24. Photo: Reuters A grave digger at the largest Muslim cemetery in New Delhi, where 1,000 people have been buried during the pandemic, said more bodies are now being moved than last year and that the site will soon run out of space. The situation is equally dire at hospitals that are already packed with patients. People desperately wait in line to die, sometimes they stop breathing in the outer streets while waiting to see a doctor. Indian health officials are currently looking to expand intensive care areas and increase oxygen supplies. Patient COVID-19 was taken to a hospital in New Delhi. Photo: AFP A manual cremation ground for victims of COVID-19 in New Delhi. Photo: Getty Images Hospitals and patient families themselves struggle to procure the scarce medical equipment that is being sold at exponentially increasing prices. The crisis contradicted the government’s statement that “no one in the country will be left without oxygen,” in an April 24 statement by Indian Attorney General Tushar Mehta before the Supreme Court of Delhi. The crisis of the new COVID-19 wave is a huge failure for a country that only in January, Prime Minister Modi declared victory over the epidemic and is proud to be the “pharmacy of the world” – home global vaccine production, which is a model for other developing countries. Off guard against the spike in infections, the federal government has asked industrialists to increase production of oxygen and other drugs that are in short supply. However, health experts say India has a whole year to prepare, but they have not. People wait in line to pump more oxygen into the tank, to save patient COVID-19. Photo: DailyMail Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina (USA), said the Indian government had “reacted very passively to this situation instead of actively”. Ms. Kuppalli said that the government should be using 2020, when the virus is better controlled, to prepare plans to tackle in the event of an outbreak, while at the same time “stockpiling drugs and developing relationships. Public-private partnerships to support the production of essential resources in the event of such a situation ”. “Most importantly, they should look at what’s going on in other parts of the world and understand that the possibility of India in a similar situation is only a matter of time,” said Ms. Kuppalli. Associate Professor Kuppalli called the Indian government’s early statements on pandemic victory a “mistake”, as it encouraged people to relax prevention measures when they should have continued to adhere to it. strict spacing, wear masks and avoid crowds. People waiting to be vaccinated against COVID in Mumbai, India Photo: AP Containers of oxygen were transported on board, delivered to India. Photo: Reuters Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing criticism for allowing Hindu festivals and massive election rallies, which experts suspect has contributed to the speed of the spread. of the virus. In such an election rally just two weeks ago, Modi could barely hide his joy when declaring to supporters in the state of West Bengal: “I have never seen such a large crowd.” . At that time, SARS-CoV-2 had begun to strike again and experts warned that a fatal increase was inevitable. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on April 25 that the US was “deeply concerned” about a serious COVID-19 outbreak in India. “We are working around the clock to deploy more supplies and support to our friends and partners in India as they bravely fight this pandemic,” said Mr. Sullivan on Twitter. Neighboring Pakistan also expressed support for people in India. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it offered to provide relief assistance including breathing apparatus, oxygen supply unit, digital X-ray machine, personal protective equipment (PPE) and related items.

The relative of a Covid-19 patient died in a collapse in a graveyard in Jammu, India. Photo: AP Pictures spread dizzying on social networks and television showed relatives of patients desperately asking for oxygen outside hospitals, or crying on the streets because a loved one with Covid-19 died while waiting. treated. ABC News cites a woman who fell in love with her brother’s death at the age of 50 after being rejected by two hospitals and died of oxygen without a replacement vessel. The woman mourns the death of a member of her family from Covid-19 outside a crematory in New Delhi. Photo: Reuters India has just set a global record for the fifth consecutive day of new infections, mainly due to a new variant of SARS ‑ CoV ‑ 2. The shock wave denied any early claims about the pandemic victory that the officials of this country had made. According to Worldometers website, the number of corona virus infections in India in the past 24 hours was 354,531 people, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to more than 17.3 million. The number of deaths due to the epidemic rose to 195,116, an increase of 2,806 from a day earlier. The number of deaths can be very large, as the above statistics do not include suspected fatal cases. Medical staff taking care of a Covid-19 patient in Virar, near Mumbai. Photo: AP The current health crisis in India is most evident in overcrowded graveyards and crematoria, and in images of patients dying on the road from lack of oxygen. Burial sites in the capital New Delhi are full. The crematoriums in many cities burned nonstop day and night. In the central city of Bhopal, some crematoriums have to increase their capacity, but the list of corpses waiting for is growing longer. At the Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat crematory in a city of 1.8 million people, workers said they cremated more than 110 people on April 24. A Covid-19 patient cremation ground in New Delhi. Photo: AP “The virus is devouring the people of our city like a monster” – ABC News quoted an official named Mamtesh Sharma with sorrow. The influx of bodies brought in has caused cremators to bypass procedures and rituals for Hindu devotees. “We just cremated the bodies, as if we were in a war,” said Mr. Sharma. And in New Delhi’s largest Muslim cemetery, the body was so overfilled that the curator’s manager, Mohammad Shameem, was concerned that “we would run out of burial sites soon.” A Covid-19 patient cremation ground in New Delhi. Photo: AP The situation in hospitals was no less grim. The patients were so desperate to wait for treatment that they were lying on the street, looking forward to seeing a doctor. Indian health officials are trying to expand emergency spots and provide more oxygen but supplies are running out, while they are struggling to buy already scarce medical equipment. What’s happening in India right now is a huge setback for a country, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi just declared a pandemic victory in January, and is proud to be “the pharmacy of the world.” world “, the global producer of the vaccine, and is seen as a model for other developing countries in the prevention of Covid-19. People wait for the Covid-19 vaccine in Mumbai. Photo: AP Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases at the Medical University of South Carolina, said the Indian government should have used the past year, when the disease was well controlled, to store medicine and developing systems to cope with the risk of a new pandemic. “Most importantly they should observe what is going on in many other parts of the world and understand that it is only a matter of time before they fall into a similar situation,” Kuppalli said. Instead, the Indian government’s early victory statements encouraged people to relax while they should have continued to strictly adhere to anti-epidemic measures such as wearing masks and not crowding. Thanh Hao

Meanwhile, health officials are looking to increase special-care beds and oxygen reserves. Not only relatives of patients, but also hospitals find all kinds of ways to buy medical equipment, even on the black market. Social media sites and television news are filled with images of relatives of Covid-19 patients struggling to find oxygen sources outside hospitals or crying on the streets when their loved ones die. while waiting for treatment. Family members mourning when patient Covid-19’s death is taken to the crematorium in Jammu, India. Photo: AP “It’s like we’re in the middle of a war.” Video recorded by The Caravan Magazine shows a woman crying after the death of her 50-year-old brother. This man was rejected by 2 hospitals [do đã quá tải và không còn chỗ] and died waiting to be taken to the 3rd hospital. The patient’s oxygen tank was exhausted and had no reserves. April 25 is the fourth consecutive day that India has broken a global record for the number of Covid-19 cases recorded per day, mainly due to a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As of the morning of April 26, India recorded 17,306,300 cases of Covid-19, of which 195,116 died and is currently the second largest epidemic area in the world, after the United States. Besides the heartbreaking image of exhausted patients on the way to the hospital due to lack of oxygen is a terrible picture in cemeteries and crematoria. The funeral homes in New Delhi are full of seats. The fire that cremated the victim of Covid-19 turned red in the night sky in the most affected cities. In the central Indian city of Bhopal, some funeral homes have increased their capacity to more than 50 crematoriums, but many bodies still have to wait hours and hours for their turn. Social networking sites and television news were filled with images of families crying when their loved ones died. Photo: AP At the Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat city crematory, workers said that on April 24 alone, they cremated more than 110 people. “The virus is devouring the people of our city like a monster. We cremated the bodies as soon as they arrived. It was as if we were in the middle of a war, ”said Mamtesh Sharma, a Bhadbhada Vishram Ghat city official. Refugees in the largest Muslim cemetery in New Delhi, where 1,000 people are buried during the Covid-19 pandemic, say more people have been brought there than last year. “I’m afraid we will run out of space very quickly,” said Mohammad Shameem. Crisis has been predicted The federal government has demanded that the industry increase oxygen production and other medications are scarce. Health experts say India had a year to prepare for this inevitable scenario, but they did not. Dr Krutika Kuppalli, an assistant professor at the Department of Infectious Diseases, University of South Carolina Medical, said that the Indian government should have taken advantage of 2020, when the epidemic was still under control, to anticipate storage of medicines and the development of new wave risk coping systems. The source of medical oxygen in India is running out. Photo: AP Instead, early declarations of victory over the Covid-19 pandemic left citizens letting go of precaution at a time when they should have continued to practice social distance, wear masks and avoid them. crowded people. Indian officials are facing criticism for allowing Hindu festivals as well as large-scale election campaigns to be held while experts have warned such activities will cause translation. The disease spreads rapidly. “They should have looked at what was happening in some parts of the world and understood that sooner or later they would be in a similar situation,” said Kuppalli. Currently, countries around the world are actively sending aid to India to help this country cope with the “Covid-19 tsunami”. The US says it will soon send stockpiling oxygen, test kits, medications, personal protective equipment and raw materials to India for the Covid-19 vaccine production. He also decided to send to India the necessary medical supplies and equipment, along with 600 ventilators and mobile oxygen generators. The first shipment departed from the UK on April 25 and will arrive in India on April 27.