Thousands donate blood on Red Sunday nationwide

In Ho Chi Minh City, the event gathered more than 3,000 local students, workers and public servants who donated more than 6,000 blood units.

Addressing the opening of the event, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc said that the campaign is of humanitarian significance as the demands for blood at hospitals normally increase during the Lunar New Year holiday which is coming in about three weeks.

The campaign was initiated by the Tien Phong (Vanguard) Newspaper in 2009. Last year, it was held in 25 cities and provinces, collecting more than 32,000 blood units.

Also on January 13, the northern province of Bac Giang held the Red Sunday programme and launched the Red Spring Festival 2019, which will run through March 15. The province targets at least 6,000 people engaging in the event and 3,000 blood units, completing 20 percent of the goal for the whole year.

This is the fourth year that Bac Giang has opened the Red Spring festival by the Red Sunday event.

The same day, nearly 1,000 youngsters in the central city of Da Nang flocked to the local Red Sunday site. The city expected to receive about 800 blood units in the day.

At the same time, in Thanh Hoa city of central Thanh Hoa province, 1,500 volunteers also donated about 700 blood units during the Red Sunday event.