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People seek dietary supplements to prevent post-COVID fatigue

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A post-COVID treatment drug is sold online. Photo cand.com.vn 

HÀ NỘI — While health workers suggest people recovering from the COVID-19 maintain a reasonable diet and exercise to recover as quickly as possible, many patients are turning to dietary supplements to speed up their recovery.

Nguyễn Thị Hường, a bank employee in Hà Nội, said that she had COVID-19 for seven days before testing negative. 

She knew that her colleagues suffered from post-COVID symptoms after returning from work, such as difficulty breathing, coughing and fatigue.

“Worried about the post-COVID-19 symptoms, I ordered two bottles of the lung supplement ‘Healthy Care Original Lung Detox’ with 180 tablets, from Australia. It was VNĐ1.3 million,” she said.

Five out of seven people in her section had COVID-19 and all of them bought the supplements, Hường said, adding that some people even ordered up to ten boxes to reserve for their families.

Đặng Văn Tiến, of Hà Nội’s Hai Bà Trưng District, said that nearly three weeks after recovering from COVID-19, he began to experience shortness of breath, chest tightness, a sore throat and coughing.

“Although I went to the doctor and a chest X-ray showed no damage to my lungs, I was still worried about the post- COVID-19,” he said.

He contacted online stores and bought a Japanese lung medicine called Tsumura, which cost VNĐ1.25 million per box.

“Visiting online stores and Facebook pages, I was confused about which one to buy because there are so many Japanese lung tonics being offered for sale and they are sold at different prices,” Tiến said.

“The products were said to be from Australia, the US, Japan or France, which made me very confused in choosing one,” Tiến said.

He ended up buying the products that sellers suggested or those his friends also used.

According to the owner of a pharmacy store on Trần Khát Chân Street, Hà Nội’s Hai Bà Trưng District, the number of people asking to buy COVID test kits or COVID-19 treatment drugs has dropped recently. 

In the past few weeks, consumers of his store usually asked for supplements to boost health after COVID-19 recovery.

“Consumers often ask to buy products containing ingredients of high-grade medicinal herbs, such as Ganoderma lucidum, cordyceps or ginseng, which are very good for health, with tonic and stimulating effects that help users eat well, sleep well,” the owner said. 

Due to the increasing demand for supplements, advertisements and the sale of supplements has become rampant on social networks like Zalo, Facebook and Youtube.

Many sites have servers located abroad, which causes difficulties for the authorities in managing the advertising content and identifying subjects that infringe on advertising regulations.

Moreover, it is difficult to verify the quality of the products sold online, especially when authorities detect and seized large numbers of supplements with unclear origins, or smuggled ones.

Last month, HCM City Market Management Department discovered more than 161,000 products including drugs, functional food, and cosmetics which were suspected of being smuggled at the warehouse of NMD Import-Export Co., Ltd (specialising in domestic and international freight) in Tân Phú District.

Doctor Trần Công Bình, of the Department of Emergency Resuscitation, Central Hospital of Endocrinology, said that if a patient has a severe continuous cough with phlegm, insomnia, shortness of breath or fatigue, they should go to the hospital for a medical check.

“Patients should not self-medicate as it is dangerous,” he said, giving an example of a patient with severe lung damage, who took many different drugs of unknown origin without asking for a doctor’s consultation, making their illness more serious.

“Once recovered from the COVID-19, the important thing to do is to have a healthy nutritious diet and proper exercise, so that the body can recover faster. Patients can perform exercises such as jogging, aerobics, cycling, push-ups and squats with moderate intensity and gradually increasing. This helps increase the heart rate and promotes blood flow, which can help the lungs recover faster,” he said.

Doctor Đinh Thế Tiến from Đức Giang General Hospital said that patients who came to get post-COVID checks usually bring with them a lot of tonics, including those for lungs, brain and nerves, in an attempt to strengthen their immune system. However, most of the ingredients and origins are unknown. 

For young people who are fully vaccinated, even if they then are infected with COVID-19, they usually have mild symptoms and recover on their own.

After recovering from COVID-19, symptoms of fatigue can be adjusted with a reasonable lifestyle. People can recover on their own without taking any other special medicine, Tiến said.

He said that it is a big concern when patients self-prescribe drugs without doctors’ advice.

“Many people just listen to the advice of other patients or sellers to buy tonics, which costs money and creates bad health habits because they depend on drugs too much,” he said.

“Tonics are sold widely, though their effects, mechanisms and safety are not guaranteed. Some drugs with unknown ingredients can harm users’ health. Patients need to be very cautious when using drugs or functional foods originating from abroad with unclear origins, or drugs sold on the internet that are not licensed by the Ministry of Health,” warned Tiến. —

Source: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1176406/people-seek-dietary-supplements-to-prevent-post-covid-fatigue.html

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Centuries-old trees illegally cut down in Vietnam protection forest

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Many centuries-old trees in a protection forest in Cam Village of Van Canh District, located in Binh Dinh Province, south-central Vietnam were chopped down unlawfully, Luong Dinh Tien, chairman of the district People’s Committee said on Monday.

Situated in Cam Village in Canh Lien Commune sharing a borderline with Tan Xuan Commune in Tay Son District, the protection forest is under the management of the Van Canh protection forest management board.

Deforested areas were mainly found near the Co, Chuoi, Da Trai and Dong Mit Mai streams.

Stretching an area from Co Stream to Da Trai Stream, 10 trees with a diameter of 0.3-1 meter were sawn down, while five other centuries-old trees have been felled at Chuoi Stream, which is part of Co Stream.

Given the scene of logging cases, loggers used saws to chop down trees and sectioned them off to easily carry them out of the forest.

Many big trees are knocked down. Photo: Van Dinh/ Tien Phong

Many big trees are knocked down. Photo: Van Dinh / Tien Phong

A ranger, who works at a ranger station run by the Van Canh protection forest management board, confirmed the ongoing deforestation, adding that the station sent rangers to the scene of logging cases for inspection.

Y Ka Lach, a forest protector at the station, said that several loggers had been caught red-handed deforesting.

The station frequently calls on residents to join hands with officers to protect the forest, but several individuals show no cooperation and threaten to kill rangers after drinking.

The deforested area remains a hotspot as there are many big trees left, said Nguyen Thi To Tran, deputy head of the Binh Dinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

“Many rangers are at the scene to check the situation,” Tran said.

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Many centuries-old trees in a protection forest in Cam Village of Van Canh District, located in Binh Dinh Province, south-central Vietnam were chopped down unlawfully, Luong Dinh Tien, chairman of the district People’s Committee said on Monday.

Situated in Cam Village in Canh Lien Commune sharing a borderline with Tan Xuan Commune in Tay Son District, the protection forest is under the management of the Van Canh protection forest management board.

Deforested areas were mainly found near the Co, Chuoi, Da Trai and Dong Mit Mai streams.

Stretching an area from Co Stream to Da Trai Stream, 10 trees with a diameter of 0.3-1 meter were sawn down, while five other centuries-old trees have been felled at Chuoi Stream, which is part of Co Stream.

Given the scene of logging cases, loggers used saws to chop down trees and sectioned them off to easily carry them out of the forest.

Many big trees are knocked down. Photo: Van Dinh/ Tien Phong

Many big trees are knocked down. Photo: Van Dinh / Tien Phong

A ranger, who works at a ranger station run by the Van Canh protection forest management board, confirmed the ongoing deforestation, adding that the station sent rangers to the scene of logging cases for inspection.

Y Ka Lach, a forest protector at the station, said that several loggers had been caught red-handed deforesting.

The station frequently calls on residents to join hands with officers to protect the forest, but several individuals show no cooperation and threaten to kill rangers after drinking.

The deforested area remains a hotspot as there are many big trees left, said Nguyen Thi To Tran, deputy head of the Binh Dinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

“Many rangers are at the scene to check the situation,” Tran said.

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Source: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20230322/centuriesold-trees-illegally-cut-down-in-vietnam-protection-forest/72201.html

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100 restaurants, coffee shops in downtown Ho Chi Minh offer gratis toilet service

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The District 1 People’s Committee in Ho Chi Minh City has publicized a list of 100 restaurants and coffee shops that offer free toilet service to residents and tourists.

The district also selected five venues to build public restrooms, which was announced at a meeting between Nguyen Van Nen, secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, and the District 1 People’s Committee on public bathroom systems on Sunday.

Speaking at the meeting, District 1 chairman Le Duc Thanh said that the district has 18 public restroom points at 13 public places, including four markets, seven parks, one bus stop, and a residential area.

The district is home to multiple restaurants, hotels, and shopping centers, making life easier to call on these facilities to offer free-of-charge toilet services to residents and tourists, Thanh said, adding that the district finds it hard to build new public bathrooms as the land bank in District 1 is now running out.

Though the district has prodded businesses and service providers to allow free access to their bathrooms since 2017, many toilets fail to meet safe sanitation standards. Furthermore, people remain hesitant to use free restrooms.

As many as 100 restaurants and coffee shops have put up ‘free-of-charge toilet’ signs, said Thanh.

The District 1 People’s Committee has proposed the Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee give the nod for its plan to build five makeshift bathrooms funded by the city’s budget.

The five projected public restrooms will lie on Nguyen Hue, Le Duan, Hai Ba Trung, and Nguyen Trung Truc Streets.

It is a big headache to find a site for new public toilets. 

The district has proposed the city allow it to use part of some land lots set aside for projects but the plans to construct public bathrooms remain on paper, said vice-chairman of District 1 Vu Nguyen Quang Vinh.

Funding is the next challenge.

Each public toilet is expected to cost some VND550 million (US$23,330), while the monthly operation cost for it will be at least VND36 million ($1,520).

As such, the district needs to earmark some VND2.5 billion ($106,000) in total for building the five new restrooms. 

When working with many investors who are keen on bathroom construction, they expect the district authorities to pledge the capital recoupment period, aside from their advertising and business operations.

Ho Chi Minh City is facing a severe shortage of public restrooms, as the city has a mere 200 public restrooms.

The city is ranked 67th among 69 tourism cities in the world with poor public toilets, Nikkei Asia cited rankings by QS Supplies, a toilet trading company, in a report released in early February.

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The District 1 People’s Committee in Ho Chi Minh City has publicized a list of 100 restaurants and coffee shops that offer free toilet service to residents and tourists.

The district also selected five venues to build public restrooms, which was announced at a meeting between Nguyen Van Nen, secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, and the District 1 People’s Committee on public bathroom systems on Sunday.

Speaking at the meeting, District 1 chairman Le Duc Thanh said that the district has 18 public restroom points at 13 public places, including four markets, seven parks, one bus stop, and a residential area.

The district is home to multiple restaurants, hotels, and shopping centers, making life easier to call on these facilities to offer free-of-charge toilet services to residents and tourists, Thanh said, adding that the district finds it hard to build new public bathrooms as the land bank in District 1 is now running out.

Though the district has prodded businesses and service providers to allow free access to their bathrooms since 2017, many toilets fail to meet safe sanitation standards. Furthermore, people remain hesitant to use free restrooms.

As many as 100 restaurants and coffee shops have put up ‘free-of-charge toilet’ signs, said Thanh.

The District 1 People’s Committee has proposed the Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee give the nod for its plan to build five makeshift bathrooms funded by the city’s budget.

The five projected public restrooms will lie on Nguyen Hue, Le Duan, Hai Ba Trung, and Nguyen Trung Truc Streets.

It is a big headache to find a site for new public toilets. 

The district has proposed the city allow it to use part of some land lots set aside for projects but the plans to construct public bathrooms remain on paper, said vice-chairman of District 1 Vu Nguyen Quang Vinh.

Funding is the next challenge.

Each public toilet is expected to cost some VND550 million (US$23,330), while the monthly operation cost for it will be at least VND36 million ($1,520).

As such, the district needs to earmark some VND2.5 billion ($106,000) in total for building the five new restrooms. 

When working with many investors who are keen on bathroom construction, they expect the district authorities to pledge the capital recoupment period, aside from their advertising and business operations.

Ho Chi Minh City is facing a severe shortage of public restrooms, as the city has a mere 200 public restrooms.

The city is ranked 67th among 69 tourism cities in the world with poor public toilets, Nikkei Asia cited rankings by QS Supplies, a toilet trading company, in a report released in early February.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Source: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20230321/100-restaurants-coffee-shops-in-downtown-ho-chi-minh-offer-gratis-toilet-service/72198.html

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Vietnam seizes 7 tonnes of smuggled ivory

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The police and customs forces in Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam on Monday morning confiscated around seven metric tons of ivory smuggled from Africa.

The tusks were hidden in shipping containers that had been declared to contain peanuts. 

These containers arrived at Nam Dinh Vu Port in Hai Phong from Angola, transiting in Singapore, the General Department of Vietnam Customs said on the same day.

The name of the cargo was described in an uncommon language, adding that the information linked to the recipient was found to be incorrect. 

This is a new and sophisticated illegal practice being adopted in order to evade authorities’ detection, the forces said.

Also, this is the largest seizure of smuggled wildlife items in Hai Phong so far.

The seized tusks are included in CITES’ Appendix I, which lists the world’s most endangered flora and fauna. 

CITES, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is a global agreement among governments to regulate or ban international trade in species under threat, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs is working with relevant agencies to further investigate the case.

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The police and customs forces in Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam on Monday morning confiscated around seven metric tons of ivory smuggled from Africa.

The tusks were hidden in shipping containers that had been declared to contain peanuts. 

These containers arrived at Nam Dinh Vu Port in Hai Phong from Angola, transiting in Singapore, the General Department of Vietnam Customs said on the same day.

The name of the cargo was described in an uncommon language, adding that the information linked to the recipient was found to be incorrect. 

This is a new and sophisticated illegal practice being adopted in order to evade authorities’ detection, the forces said.

Also, this is the largest seizure of smuggled wildlife items in Hai Phong so far.

The seized tusks are included in CITES’ Appendix I, which lists the world’s most endangered flora and fauna. 

CITES, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is a global agreement among governments to regulate or ban international trade in species under threat, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs is working with relevant agencies to further investigate the case.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Source: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20230321/vietnam-seizes-7-tonnes-of-smuggled-ivory/72191.html

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