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“Earlier this night, the Vice President’s touring delegation was delayed from departing Singapore as a result of the Vice President’s workplace was made conscious of a report of a latest attainable anomalous well being incident in Hanoi, Vietnam. After cautious evaluation, the choice was made to proceed with the Vice President’s journey,” mentioned Rachael Chen, spokeswoman for the US embassy in Hanoi, in a press release.
Aboard Air Power Two, Harris’ chief spokeswoman Symone Sanders instructed touring reporters that Harris is “effectively, all is ok and looking out ahead to conferences in Hanoi tomorrow.” Later she mentioned of the delay: “This has nothing to do with the vice chairman’s well being,” in accordance with a pool report.
Harris ultimately took off from Singapore’s Paya Lebar Air Base at 7:32 p.m. native time, after a greater than three-hour delay.
In the course of the White Home press briefing Tuesday afternoon, White Home press secretary Jen Psaki tried to guarantee reporters of the vice chairman’s security in Vietnam, saying Harris “would not journey additional to a rustic if there wasn’t confidence in her safety on the bottom.”
When requested if Harris or her workers have been the goal of a attainable assault, Psaki mentioned no further assessments have been made. She additionally declined to elaborate on any further safety particulars, similar to how the administration will hold the vice chairman protected.
“This isn’t a confirmed case at this cut-off date. We take any reported incident, which was latest and was reported publicly, I’ll observe, fairly severely. Because of this, there was an evaluation carried out of the protection of the vice chairman, and there was a call made that she may proceed journey alongside together with her workers,” Psaki mentioned.
Psaki confirmed that these affected weren’t touring with Harris however declined to say what number of people fell unwell. Harris was not medically evaluated as a result of she was not on the bottom on the time the incident was reported.
The intelligence group nonetheless would not have an official rationalization for Havana syndrome, which is a perplexing mixture of sensory experiences and bodily signs which have now sickened lots of of US diplomats, spies and troops across the globe — some severely sufficient to drive their retirement.
CNN has not reported any instances of Havana syndrome in Vietnam.
Incidents of Havana syndrome started in late 2016 in Cuba and a Senate committee mentioned earlier this yr that the variety of suspected instances seemed to be on the rise.
Victims of Havana syndrome have reported a various set of signs and bodily sensations, together with sudden vertigo, nausea, complications and head stress, typically accompanied by a “piercing directional noise.” Some have been identified with traumatic mind accidents and proceed to undergo from debilitating complications and different well being points years later.
US federal investigators have struggled to find out what or who’s inflicting the mysterious signs. There have been instances reported in Russia, China and different international locations throughout the globe. Final month, Austrian authorities mentioned they have been investigating stories that US diplomats in Vienna had skilled signs of Havana syndrome.
Two protection officers mentioned in Could that the Pentagon was drafting a memo to the whole US army and civilian workforce asking personnel to report any so-called anomalous well being signs which may point out they’ve been victims of Havana syndrome.
The reported incident comes in the midst of Harris’ journey to Singapore and Vietnam, because the vice chairman appears to convey to the Southeast Asian nations that the US is honest in its long-term dedication to the area.
White Home officers say Harris’ overarching mission of the journey is to shore up relationships with regional companions. She is predicted to deal with regional safety points amid considerations over China’s territorial claims within the South China Sea; financial priorities, together with provide chain points like world chip manufacturing; local weather change; and the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is her second journey overseas as vice chairman. Earlier this yr, she traveled to Central America — a visit that additionally noticed journey points as Harris needed to swap planes moments earlier than leaving for Guatemala because of a technical glitch.
This story has been up to date with further info.
CNN’s Denise Hruby, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Williams and Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.
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