Amid the spread of the   new coronavirus, the sector has applied IT in payments, electronic transactions and reform of administrative procedures.

The VSS has made several adjustments to its work as Việt Nam entered the new phase of the pandemic and started to take social distancing measures.

From March 2020, the VSS has paid pension and social security allowances to elderly recipients through post offices.

The VSS has ordered local social security agencies to receive and address administrative procedures through electronic transactions or public postal services so that people avoid going out during the social distancing period as recommended by the Government.

Along with the electronic transactions, individuals and businesses are assisted through hotline number 19009068 of the Customer Service Centre which receives about 2,000 to 4,000 calls per day; web portal; Facebook fan page which is testing Artificial Intelligence (chatbot); and text messages.

The agency has also granted extensions to social security and health insurance cards and allowed insurance fee collection offices to collect extension fees following document No. 1071/BHXH-BT on April 1, 2020.

In case the offices have not submitted the fees to the VSS, they have to send messages to the VSS to confirm the collection.

The extension fees must be forwarded to the VSS after April 15, 2020 (the expiry date of the social distancing period under Directive No. 16/CT-TTg).

Amid the complicated development of COVID-19, the VSS has prioritised the implementation of measures such as administrative procedure reform and IT application.

On March 31, 2020, the VSS issued Document No 1058/BHXH-TCCB requesting units to make plans of working from home to avoid physical interaction and curb the virus transmission.

Those measures have demonstrated the VSS’ efforts and companionship with customers to overcome difficulties and beat COVID-19.

The VSS also wants to call on people to voluntarily participate in social security and health insurance schemes to enjoy humane policies./.