The 14th Red Spring Festival - the year's biggest blood donation event – kicked off at a ceremony in Hanoi on February 28 with the theme “Safe blood donation – Don’t be afraid of COVID-19”.

The National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation has set a goal to collect over 1.5 million blood units in 2021, with 99 percent of which donated by volunteers, according to Le Gia Tien, Director of the committee's Standing Office.

The Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, said it had received approximately 1.7 million units of blood in 2020, which helped millions of patients, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.