COVID-19 Craze Makes Vietnam Expand Lockdown In Industrial Areas, Menkes Thanh Long: There Are Variants That Are Rapidly Contagious

JAKARTA - Vietnam on Tuesday May 25 expanded lockdown measures in industrial areas in the north to combat the largest COVID-19 outbreak so far as authorities reported daily records in new cases that more than doubled from the previous high.

The health ministry on Tuesday night announced 447 new infections of COVID-19, the largest jump since 190 cases were recorded on May 16. The report was prompted by clusters in factory zones in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang Provinces. The number is a revised number from the previous announcement of 457 cases.

"The variant of COVID-19 found today has spread very quickly and widely," Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said in a statement, without mentioning the detected variant, reported from Antara, Wednesday, May 26.

Vietnam has reported the presence of a highly contagious variant that was first identified in India. The outbreak has spread to more than 30 of Vietnam's 63 cities and provinces, including the capital Hanoi, which has closed restaurants and banned public gatherings.

Bac Ninh, the site of Samsung Electronics' production facility, began curfews and travel restrictions starting Tuesday, state media reported.

The restrictions followed the temporary closure of four industrial estates, including three Foxconn facilities, by authorities in the neighboring Province of Bac Giang.

The outbreak could be a major challenge for Vietnam, which managed to overcome earlier and smaller outbreaks and avoid the extent of economic damage suffered by its neighbors.

Hundreds of factory workers have been among nearly 2,800 people infected since late April, which represents about half of the country's 5,773 cases overall. The country has recorded 44 deaths.

"The density of workers at the outbreak site is very high, sharing the same enclosed environment, the same dining room, and the same sanitation area. The risk is very high," Long said.

Most of the cases on Tuesday occurred at factories in Bac Giang, where authorities said testing was improved and worker dormitories were closed.

The local government said it was considering the resumption of some operations starting Wednesday for uninfected workers. Vietnam has not started mass inoculation to fight the coronavirus, with about 1 million doses of the vaccine having been administered so far.