smart warter magazine (07.04.2020) For the next two months, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is to supply water and electricity free of charge to its citizens, local authorities have said. According to the Anadolu Agency, the water supply business Regie de Distribution d’Eau (REGIDESO) and the country’s National Electricity Company (SNEL) have agreed to provide free water and electricity in the country for the following two months.

The New York TImes (22.07.2020) The  US government committed to purchase 100 million doses of a not-yet-finished vaccine. The private sector buys most vaccines in the United States, not the government.“We’re trying to make sure access for all Americans is equal,” said L.J. Tan, chief strategy officer at the Immunization Action Coalition. “The best way to do that is to make vaccines free for everybody.” The U.S.

The International Section on Prevention in Transportation, together with its member BG Verkehr, has produced five fact sheets on Covid-19 protective measures for various transportation sectors in six languages.

The Special Commission on Prevention  has set up a Corona information portal for small and medium-sized enterprises, which features a range of international views and examples: https://safety-work.org/en/topics/corona.html.

The website is available in 5 languages

In wake of the COVID-19 crisis and nationwide lockdown, India has been grappling with unprecedented challenges that range from maintaining law and order, access to medical facilities, food, social security to availability of medical facilities. The newest hurdle to have joined this bandwagon has been a systematic increase in incidents of attacks and harassment of its nurses, doctors and other medical personnel. Fueled by paranoia and fear in an increasingly trying time, these ill-informed attacks seem to target medical professional who are feared to be carrying and spreading the diseases.

vietnaminsider.vn (13.03.2020) People (both Vietnamese and foreigners) are not charged all related fees when they undergo mandatory quarantine at healthcare centers, border gates and other isolation facilities. They will also be transported to isolation wards for free and receive free drinking water, towels, face masks, hand sanitizers, mouthwash and other daily necessities, according to the Finance Ministry’s Circular 32/2012.

vss.gov.vn (07.04.2020) Earlier, on February 6, 2020, Ministry of Health issued Document No 505/BYT-BH on the payment of medical expenses for treatmentof pneumonia caused by the new strain of coronavirus. According to Circular No 32/2012/TT-BTC of December 29, 2012 issued by Ministry of Finance, people infected, suspected of being infected with the virus and high-risk people will have medical expenses fully covered.

Social Security Board (21.07.2020) Effective March 28, 2020 the qualifying condition that a person must be employed upon becoming ill has been suspended. This means persons who, as of March 1, 2020, became unemployed, suspended, placed on leave without pay or ceased self-employed may still qualify for sickness benefit.

The following qualifying conditions apply:

1. The person is sick due to Covid-19;

2. Have 50 weekly paid contributions since 1981;

vss.gov.vn (15.05.2020) The Ministry of Health (MoH) and Vietnam Social Security (VSS) will unify to closely coordinate and make a commitment to build electronic health records for people as in the Resolution 20/NQ-TW and other relevant documents, with quality assurance, effectiveness and in accordance with the basis of social insurance code number, serving the professional purposes of health facilities as well as those of management of medical examination and treatment costs in health insurance agencies, etc. As for VSS, database will be provided in terms of the number of people and h