Vietnam on Friday recorded 45 new COVID-19 cases in Da Nang. The country’s total of 82 new infections on Friday, 26 of which were imported, was its largest single-day count since the pandemic broke out in the country in January, Reuters reported. The country also recorded its first two deaths from the virus on Friday, after going for more than 100 days without a new infection.
The new cases were reported in Vietnam’s two biggest cities, namely the capital of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and were linked to health care facilities in Da Nang, where officials have already started building a 1,000-bed field hospital to ensure the city’s hospitals do not become overburdened, Reuters reported.
By noon on Friday, more than 21,000 people had been tested for the virus in the capital, according to the Hanoi Center for Disease Control. In addition, Hanoi has already banned large gatherings and shut down bars and city authorities said on Friday that restaurants and supermarkets can stay open but they must establish social-distancing measures.
Kovalik pointed out to Sputnik's Loud & Clear on Friday the “hyper-capitalist way this was dealt with” in the United States by comparison.
“I mean, first of all, the so-called stimulus plans that were passed looked a lot like the ones passed after the 2008 crash where the rich got bailed out, the rich made billions, while everyone else got $1,200,” he told hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou.
“You have the US, arguably the wealthiest country on Earth, has the most resources, and yet again, we’re five months into this, and you have health care workers who still don’t have proper protective gear. And of course, average citizens don't have proper protective gear … It’s a calamity in so many ways, and it’s heartbreaking,” Kovalik continued.
According to Sputnik News analyst and producer Nicole Roussell, roughly 67 million Americans have been able to successfully file for unemployment benefits since the pandemic began.
Roussell pointed out that the tens of millions of Americans suddenly thrust into the ranks of the unemployed as a result of the pandemic raging across the US for months on end have also lost their access to health insurance at a time they need health care the most.
“We know a lot of people get their health care through their jobs, and that means 67 million people at a minimum have had instability with their health care, with being able to see a doctor, with being able to get any kind of health care,” she said.
