Dengue explodes in southern Ben Tre

BEN TRE — Sixteen people were admitted to the Ba Tri District General Hospital in southern Ben Tre Province yesterday and diagnosed with dengue fever.

The admission of these patients, three of whom were diagnosed with a danger level of 3/3, which could mean internal bleeding, raised the total number of dengue cases in the district to 65 over the last three days, said a hospital administrator.

More than 1,800 cases of the virus have been reported in the province, 700 in Ba Tri District alone. Two patients have died.

The provincial health department has established two teams to investigate potential precautionary missions in the area.

Slaughterhouse meets international standards

QUANG NGAI — The first international standard slaughterhouse in central Quang Ngai Province will go into operation next July.

The slaughterhouse is expected to provide clean poultry for the province, particularly factories in the Dung Quat Economic Zone.

Construction kicked off last Friday in Binh Hiep Ward, Binh Son District.

The nearly-one-ha slaughterhouse worth VND28 billion (US$1.5 million) will be equipped with an advanced system that can process 300 fowls per hour.

Primary school students drown

THANH HOA — Two primary school students drowned while swimming in a man-made lake in Tinh Gia District, central Thanh Hoa Province, on Sunday.

The students allegedly did not know how to swim.

Local residents fished the bodies out of the lake after a two-hour search.

Scholarship helps deepen Indonesia ties

HCM CITY — The acting Indonesian consul general in HCM City, Dalton Sembiring, has hailed students returning after studying in his country for contributing greatly to strengthening ties between the two countries.

Speaking at an annual gathering of former students in Indonesia, he said 15 Vietnamese students had been awarded the Darmasiswa Scholarship this year, five more than last year.

In the last five years, 36 students in HCM City had received the scholarship, and Sembiring said the number would increase in future.

Viet Nam and Indonesia were fraternal nations with many similarities but their trade remained low, he said, adding he hoped exchange students would help boost trade and cultural exchanges between the nations. — VNS