Authorities concerned over people avoiding quarantine

Some people have tried to avoid quarantine when returning to Vietnam from Covid-19 outbreak areas.

Temperature check at Tan Son Nhat Airport

In the most recent case, a woman boasted on social media that she was able to avoid being quarantined after returning from virus area in South Korea. She lived in Daegu but travelled to Busan before taking a flight to Vietnam. After landing at Tan Son Nhat Airport, she only reported that she flew to Vietnam from Busan and omitted the fact that she lived in Daegu. She later turned herself in after receiving criticism and volunteered to be quarantined.

On February 13, Doan Van Dong, chairman of Phu Giao District People's Committee in Binh Duong Province, ordered an investigation after a seven-member family that returned to Vietnam from China without reporting. On February 22, Binh Duong Department of Health was also asked to investigate a case where two men returned to Vietnam from China without reporting.

Huynh Thanh Ha, deputy director of Binh Duong Department of Health, said the local authorities had quarantined over 1,200 people from outbreak areas, all of them are healthy. Binh Duong hasn't detected any Covid-19 case.

In the case of the seven-member family and the two men, Ha said they were not being truthful when filing out papers. The seven-member family said they returned from a different area that did not have an outbreak. The men went to Cambodia and crossed the border to Vietnam.

According to the department, they have made plans to work with other agencies to tighten control and monitoring. The police will tighten management over immigration and workers from other provinces.