Vietnam Monitoring Over 5,000 Chinese Workers for Coronavirus

Vietnam Monitoring Over 5,000 Chinese Workers for Coronavirus
A woman wearing a face mask is seen in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, on Feb. 13, 2020. (Yen Duong/Reuters)
Reuters
2/14/2020
Updated:
2/14/2020

Vietnam is monitoring more than 5,000 workers who returned to the Southeast Asian country after the Lunar New Year holiday for signs of coronavirus, state media reported on Feb. 14.

On Thursday, Communist-ruled Vietnam quarantined a rural commune of 10,000 people near Hanoi because of fears the coronavirus could spread there.

An employee (L) puts a protective face mask on a child at a railway station in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 2, 2020. (NHAC NGUYEN/AFP via Getty Images)
An employee (L) puts a protective face mask on a child at a railway station in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 2, 2020. (NHAC NGUYEN/AFP via Getty Images)

Sixteen people in Vietnam have tested positive for the virus.

“As of February 11, there are 7,600 Chinese workers who returned to Vietnam after the holiday break, of which 5,112 are being closely monitored,” the state-run Tien Phong newspaper said, citing a report by Vietnam’s labor ministry.

“They are being isolated in their companies’ dormitories and local hotels. Suspected infection cases are quarantined at medical facilities,” the report added.

Women sit in a street as they wear face masks in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on Feb. 13, 2020. (Yen Duong/Reuters)
Women sit in a street as they wear face masks in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on Feb. 13, 2020. (Yen Duong/Reuters)

On Feb. 2, Vietnam’s labor ministry asked businesses and employers not to let Chinese workers return to work in Vietnam.

Vietnam declared a public health emergency over the epidemic on Feb. 1 and has banned all flights to and from China, where nearly 1,400 people have died from the virus.

By Phuong Nguyen