A group of university students recently invented QQueue - an app that allows patients to virtually wait in line, reducing waiting time and the chance of groups gathering in public spaces.

After telecoms carriers conducted commercial 5G trials in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, many provinces have sent recommendations to the Ministry of Information and Communications to allow the carriers to deploy 5G in their urban areas, industrial zones and key areas.

Insurance companies performed well in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic, but their shares have not attracted much attention from investors.

The disbursement of public investment was estimated at VND398 trillion (US$17.24 billion) as of the end of December, meeting 82.8% of the Government’s plan – the highest rate in the 2016-20 period, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Vietnamese athletes are working hard to secure a second slot in gymnastics at the coming Olympics in Tokyo this year.

Real estate prices in 2021 are expected to increase by 10% over the previous year, said Nguyen Van Dinh, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Real Estate Association (VNREA).

The regulatory sandbox for financial technology (fintech) which is expected to be created this year, coupled with efforts to promote the use of digital financial services, are expected to accelerate the development of fintech in Vietnam.

In the first 11 months of this year dragon fruit exports fell by 10% because of the COVID-19 pandemic but still dominated Vietnamese fruit exports with shipments of more than US$1 billion.

Handicrafts are identified as one of the product groups with great export potential and high-profit margin that Vietnam needs to boost in the future.

Vietnam’s total revenue from retail trade and services reached over VND5 quadrillion (US$219.5 billion) in 2020, representing a modest yearly rise of 2.6%, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).