After days of working from home and implementing social distancing, Khanh An, a young woman in HCM City, has been able to sustain her interests.

HCM CITY — After days of working from home and implementing social distancing, Khanh An, a young woman in HCM City, has been able to sustain her interests.

Like many people in the country, An for days has not gone out in an effort to fight against the COVID-19 pademic. 

An says that the most difficult thing for her was that she could not go to the gym. 

In recent days, however, she has been happier after finding many online fitness classes.

Seeing the demand from customers during the social distancing period, domestic and foreign companies in various sectors from technology to lifestyle in Viet Nam have designed many products.

After their centres nationwide closed, California Fitness & Yoga Centre announced the launch of CALI x Home, its home workout series. 

These series consist of free broadcast and live-streams of full classes for all Vietnamese looking to keep in shape or improve their fitness in this era of COVID-19.

“Over 13 years, we have built a reputation for offering the best in personal training, group X and Yoga classes in Viet Nam,” said Dane Fort, the group’s CEO.

“With COVID-19 locking many people in Viet Nam away for the time being, we want  to give back to the community and contribute with what we do best – providing people help and tips on how to keep strong and healthy.”

Believing that fitness is one of the key pillars toward health, wellbeing and the development of one’s immune systems, the videos and live-streams will feature some of California’s most popular group X and Yoga Instructors leading viewers through a series of workouts.

The first video appeared on March 25 on California Fitness & Yoga’s Facebook page as well as its Youtube Channel, while daily livestreams began on Monday March 30. 

Cali plans on producing 70 CALI x Home shows, with new content being released three times a week, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5 pm.

The volume of people watching these series has kept increasing. For instance, around 800 people followed the live Hatha Yoga class at 10pm on Friday morning.

Other clubs, such as Jetts Fitness, a recent entrant to Viet Nam, is also offering its existing customers access to exclusive workout content for free during this period. 

UFC Gym, which entered a few years ago, has also started offering home workouts and Instagram live feeds in the last few days.

From the technology sector, Microsoft has recently launched a new product for their customers.

The company announced the refresh of Office 365 to Microsoft 365, a subscription that will better help people make the most of their time and connect and protect the ones they love, as well as develop and grow. 

This refresh will be fully rolled out by April 21, the company said.

An evolution of Office 365, Microsoft 365 builds on the foundation of Office 365, infusing new artificial intelligence (AI), rich content and templates, and cloud-powered experiences to empower people to become better writers, presenters, designers and finance managers, as well as deepen people connections. 

“Now more than ever, as many of us work and learn remotely, we are acutely aware of all the different ways life can interrupt work and work can interrupt life. It’s never been more important to stay connected and on top of the things that matter… We are committed to improving and innovating on these experiences every day,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president for the Windows and Devices Group.

In addition, Microsoft unveiled two new Microsoft 365 experiences that will be available for preview in the coming months.

First is a new Microsoft Family Safety app designed to keep families safe across the digital and physical worlds.

Next, to provide one application to help manage work and life and deepen connections with those who matter most, Microsoft has also previewed new features coming to Microsoft Teams for users’ personal life today. With these new features, users can connect, stay organised, and collaborate with family and friends. 

In another new service to local people, Grab is now running a trial for GrabMart. With this service, consumers can buy fresh food, canned food, beverages and vegetables from supermarkets, convenient stores and retail stores that are Grab partners.

GrabMart drivers will then help customers pick up the orders. — VNS