Vietnam pledges to safely host upcoming SEA Games: officials

The international press conference took place in both in-person and online formats with the participation of representatives from the embassies of ASEAN countries in Hanoi as well as domestic and foreign reporters.

Le Thi Hoang Yen, deputy general director of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, said that the organization of the upcoming SEA Games, whose 31st edition will take place from May 12 to 23, is being actively carried out. 

Vietnam will make every effort to organize a successful and safe Games edition as the host country, Yen affirmed.

Some 7,000 members of international sports delegations have registered to attend the Games so far, according to Yen.

She also briefed conference attendees on the accommodation and means of transport for athletes. 

She said that a torch relay ceremony will be held 31 days before the opening day, departing from northern Phu Tho Province, going through 11 provinces, and ending in Hanoi. 

Reporters intending to cover the 31st SEA Games can register starting March 15 through a link on the event’s official website: www.seagames2021.com. 

The organizing board said that it would give priority support to the press in getting a visa to enter Vietnam with no limitation in the number of reporters.

At least 15-17 sports are expected to be broadcast live via Vietnam Television (VTV), according to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Anh Tuan. 

VTV will try to meet additional live TV requests from other countries, Tuan added.

Regarding the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Nguyen Van Phu, representative of the healthcare and anti-doping sub-committee of the SEA Games, vowed to ensure the safety of all athletes and participants in the event.

International sports delegations and reporters attending the Games will not be quarantined even if COVID-19 cases are found.

Only those who test positive for COVID-19 will be quarantined and monitored. 

Further information related to the pandemic will be updated and announced two weeks before the opening day of the sports competition. 

Meanwhile, specific guidelines on COVID-19 prevention and control will be published by the sub-committee as soon as possible on the event’s official website.

The biennial Games were originally scheduled to be held in Hanoi and 11 other localities from November 21 to December 2, 2021 but have been postponed since Vietnam began experiencing a flare-up in COVID-19 cases in late April the same year.

The 40-sport event is expected to feature about 10,000 athletes, coaches, and other participants.

The 30th edition was held in the Philippines in 2019.

This is the second time that Vietnam has hosted the SEA Games after the first time in 2003. 

Vietnam has recorded 3,443,485 patients in total since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the country in early 2020, with 3,436,124 community transmissions registered in all its 63 provinces and cities during the ongoing fourth virus wave that broke out on April 27, 2021.

As many as 2,438,951 of the patients have recovered from the respiratory disease.

The number of daily new cases in the country topped 122,400 on Monday.

The nation has so far administered over 194.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to adults and children from 12 years old among its 98-million population.

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