Man sets motorbike ablaze after Covid

taskforce requests papers

Ablaze (a) /əˈbleɪz/ burning quickly and strongly

(a) /aɪ’reɪt/ very angry

An irate man set his motorbike on fire Tuesday after a Covid-19 taskforce
asked for approval papers during a social distancing order in Binh Duong
Province.

Taskforce /ˈtæsk fɔːrs/ (n) a group of people who are brought together to deal with a
particular problem
>> Covid-19 task force/ drug task force

Nguyen Duy Thanh, 23, was riding his motorbike on My Phuoc-Tan Van
Street in Phu Loi Ward, Thu Dau Mot Town when he was stopped by the local
Covid-19 taskforce.

Thanh failed to provide approval papers that allow him to go out during the
Covid-19 social distancing order as well as other documents like motorbike
registration. As he was about to be fined, Thanh set his motorbike on fire.

Covid-19 social distancing order trật tự giãn cách xã hội

He was taken to a police station to be tested for Covid-19 and fined for his
violations, police said.

Be fined: bị phạt

"Everything happened so quickly that we couldn't stop him," said a member of

the Covid-19 taskforce at the time.

Binh Duong, currently a major coronavirus hotspot, is under a social

distancing order expected to last until August 31.

The province has recorded 49,833 local Covid-19 cases since the fourth
coronavirus wave hit Vietnam late April, and more cases are expected as
authorities carry out mass testing in the locality.

Carry out: to do something that you have said you will do or have been asked to do

>>to carry out a promise/ a threat/ a plan/ an order

Air pollution cuts Hanoian lifespan by 2.5
years: study
Life expectancy among Hanoians is reduced by 2.49 years on average due to
Expectancy

exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a recent study indicates.

Exposure

"Research on the impact of air pollution caused by PM2.5 dust on public

Dust on

health in Hanoi in 2019" by the Hanoi-based non-profit organization Live and

Learn for Environment and Community (Live&Learn), Hanoi University of
Public Health (HUPH), and Vietnam National University's University of
Engineering and Technology is the first study to use data provided by local
authorities to evaluate the burden of disease caused by impacts of PM2.5 dust
pollution on public health in Hanoi.

The study was carried out within the framework of a project called "Joining
Hands for Clean Air" funded and supported by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) in 2019-2022.

A report issued last week to announce the study's results said total PM2.5 dust
concentration across Hanoi in 2019 had exceeded the national standard
threshold.

Specifically, the annual average concentration of PM2.5 dust in the city is in

the 28.15 µg/m³ to 39.4 µg/m³ range compared to the threshold
recommended by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment at 25
μg/m³.

Downtown districts Dong Da, Ba Dinh and Hai Ba Trung have the highest
concentration of PM2.5.

PM2.5 is defined as ambient airborne particulates that measure up to 2.5

microns in size, just a fraction of the width of a human hair. Their microscopic
size allows these particles to be absorbed deep into the bloodstream upon
inhalation, potentially causing health effects like asthma, lung cancer, and
heart disease. Exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to negative health effects
like cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, and premature mortality.

The study revealed the burden of diseases related to death and hospitalization
due to exposure to PM2.5 dust in Hanoi in 2019 was "significant."

The number of premature deaths due to exposure to PM2.5 dust hit 2,855
cases, equivalent to about 35.5 premature deaths per 100,000 people while
the life expectancy lost from exposure to PM2.5 dust totaled 908 days, or 2.49
years for Hanoians, it stated.
The study also showed with the increase in the average annual concentration
of PM2.5 dust in Hanoi, there are an average of 1,062 more hospital
admissions for cardiovascular disease each year, and about 2,969 cases that
must be hospitalized for respiratory diseases, equivalent to 1.2 percent and 2.4
percent of the total number of hospital admissions due to the two groups of
diseases among Hanoi residents, respectively.

Researchers, however, noted the results in this study could be much lower
than in reality "due to the lack of data."

The study uses the assumption that the lowest annual average PM2.5
concentration value of Hanoi in an ideal area is 22.9 µg/m3, which is higher
than the WHO recommendation (10 µg/m3) for community health and safety.

In addition, the results of PM2.5 dust mapping could have been affected by
errors in data from air monitoring stations in Hanoi, they said.