Here are today’s leading news stories:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnam recorded eight local COVID-19 cases at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi on Thursday morning, bringing the national tally to 3,030 patients, with 2,560 recoveries and 35 virus-related deaths.

-- On Wednesday afternoon, Dong Nai authorities cordoned off a small alley on Ngo Quyen Street, Xuan Thanh Ward, Long Khanh City for the next 21 days after a new case of COVID-19 infection was identified in the neighborhood.

-- Vietnam has extended its concentrated quarantine duration from 14 to 21 days for both international arrivals and people who come into contact with COVID-19 patients.

Society

-- Police in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Phuoc detected six Chinese people suspected to enter Vietnam illegally on Wednesday afternoon.

-- A blaze that broke out at Phu Bai Industrial Zone in Thua Thien-Hue Province in central Vietnam on Wednesday evening heavily destroyed a 1,000-square-meter textile company.

-- A woman in Hanoi has been tricked into losing VND420 million (US$18,000) to a person who claimed to be an employee of the Government Office.

-- Police in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong have found a Taiwanese and a Vietnamese man who appropriated VND34 billion ($1.4 million) from online game players.

Education

-- Dong Nai Province authorities demanded on Wednesday that K-12 schools in the southern locality be shuttered from Wednesday until further notice to prevent COVID-19 spread.