HANOI (UCAN): Many cities and provinces in northern Vietnam have imposed harsher measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic as domestic migrant workers return home for the Tet [Lunar New Year] festival.
Hoang Thanh Tung, head of the National Assembly’s Law Committee, complained on January 18 that some provinces imposed compulsory medical tests and strict quarantine up to 14 days ahead of the Tet festival which will be celebrated from January 31 to February 4.
Hoang said that in other places, homes where people were kept in quarantine were being locked from outside as a precautionary measure by authorities.
Pham Ngoc Thao, head of Cao Bat Lu hamlet, in the Kien Xuong district of Thai Binh province, reportedly locked in a woman and her two grandchildren, aged seven and 10-years-old, after they returned home from Haiphong, a Covid-19 epicentre, on January 9.
The family were isolated inside their home for seven days even though the children had tested negative. When local people became annoyed by this inhuman action, Nguyen Thanh Khoa, head of the Nam Cao commune, issued a public apology on January 18.
People demanded that uniform health safety regulations from the central government be followed by local authorities…
A similar incident was reported at the Thieu Phu commune in Thanh Hoa province. The affected family had returned home from Binh Duong province for the festival after several years, it was reported.
Quang Ninh provincial officials have opened public quarantine facilities for migrant workers returning from high-risk areas. Even those who are fully vaccinated will have to quarantine and get tested regularly.
At least 13 provinces and Haiphong City reportedly imposed harsher restrictions on migrant workers returning from other places to contain the pandemic.
Hoang called on the central government to work with provincial officials to implement uniform and proper safety regulations so that people could easily come home for the Tet festival.
Many people complained about the Transport Ministry’s unreasonable regulations that make negative test results mandatory before allowing children less than 12-years-old on domestic flights as they are yet to be vaccinated and there were fewer facilities for testing them.
As a result, many families reportedly missed their flights and called on the ministry to abolish the regulation at the earliest.
People demanded that uniform health safety regulations from the central government be followed by local authorities throughout the country to avoid public inconvenience to millions during festive times.
On January 20, Vietnam recorded 16,715 new infections and 152 deaths. The country has recorded a total of 2,094,802 infections and 36,266 deaths as of January 21.
More than 80 per cent of the population of 96 million has received at least one dose of a vaccine.
