Health ministry holds urgent meeting as over 300 workers in Bac Giang infected with COVID-19

Hanoi (VNA) - The northern province of Bac Giang, Vietnam’s largest COVID-19 hotspot at present, had logged over 300 new infections as of the afternoon of May 25, the Ministry of Health (MoH)’s special taskforce in the province said.

All are workers staying in a sealed off area.

The MoH has held an urgent meeting with the special taskforce in Bac Giang and the province’s Health Department.

The cases were detected after an acceleration of testing conducted jointly by the MoH, local authorities, and relevant agencies over the last three days at all industrial parks (IPs), factories, and worker dormitories in the locality.

Associate Professor Dr Tran Nhu Duong, Deputy Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said that either factories in the IPs or the dormitories are the source of the infections. Both are high-density areas and the virus spreads quickly in the air.

The MoH has asked its special taskforce to immediately block off all worker dormitories and ensure strict compliance with quarantine regulations, especially in high-rise buildings accommodating a large number of workers, and apply regulations at quarantine sites in these areas.

Relevant agencies must not allow people to leave these areas or their rooms, and must conduct regular testing and disinfect workers’ residential areas./.