A welfare bag presented to worker of Panasonic Appliances Vietnam (Photo: Internet)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has hailed the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU)’s organisation of a programme to present one million welfare bags to localities currently under social distancing to contribute to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinh urged the HCYU to coordinate with the Ministry of Health to provide testing and vaccination against COVID-19 for volunteers working for the programme.

The HCYU held a ceremony to launch the “One million welfare bags” programme on August 31, during which the union received 94,000 "welfare bags" and "welfare medicine bags" worth 23.3 billion VND (1 million USD) in total donated by businesses, organisations and individuals.

The Secretariat of the HCYU Central Committee handed over 20,000 "welfare bags" worth 5 billion VND to disadvantaged people in Ho Chi Minh City, which is the current largest pandemic hotspot. Another 61,400 "welfare bags" worth 15.35 billion VND were presented to needy people in southern Dong Nai province.

The Vietnam Red Cross Society grants 800 welfare bags to HCYU Central Committee (Photo: VNA)

On the occasion, the programme debuted its portal www.trieutuiansinh.doanthanhnien.vn, making it easier for organisations and individuals to make donations.The programme has been carried out since August 20 in cities and provinces applying social distancing measures to support people in disadvantaged circumstances.

Accordingly, 1 million "welfare bags" will be distributed to residents until the pandemic is pushed back. Each bag includes food such as rice, cooking oil, eggs, dried fish, canned meat and vegetables worth 250,000 VND which is enough for one week.

Meanwhile, the "welfare medicine bag" worth 150,000 VND contains basic medicines for COVID-19 prevention and control as guided by the Health Ministry./.