Coronavirus Situation

The Covid-19 outbreak landed in major cities of Vietnam in the springtime of 2020, forcing the government to exercise social distancing for nearly two months into the summertime of the same year. The country survised without sustaning a high number of lives lost and infections. Nevertheless, Central Vietnam was then hit by another two waves of the coronavirus pandemic in late summer of the year. In early 2021, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, came into light, suggesting that more cautious messaures might be applied by the government of Vietnam for the rest of 2021. In particular, Ho Chi Minh City was badly hit by the fourth wave in the springtime of 2021. Given the restriction of international travels put by many universities and companies worldwide and the uncertainty of government measures in November later this year, we now believe that it is safe to run the conference in a virtual mode. This is a hard decision-making we had to perform, though understandably it might sound disappointing to many authors and conference participants. Our conference team are working hard to bring you great attendee experiences, although we had to turn it into an online conference once again. Should the pandemic situation get improved, we will also be considering a blended option.