Food firms try to keep production going

Ba Huan Joint Stock Company, a major chicken and egg producer, has dedicated areas for employees to work, sleep and eat on its premises amid HCMC’s ongoing 15-day social distancing.

Its deputy general director Pham Thanh Hung told VnExpress: "We have divided Ba Huan into three areas: for workers at farms, workers at food processing facilities and office workers. In the office area, only three people, instead of the 10 previously, are permitted to work in one room."

All employees are tested for coronavirus twice a week, he added.

Truong Chi Thien, general director of Vinh Thanh Dat Food Corporation, said: "We will isolate two areas in our factory and staff in one cannot go to the other, and accommodate our workers at our warehouse and campus."

The company has hired cooks to make food for the workers.

C.P. Vietnam Corporation, a leading husbandry and animal feed producer, has instructed its workers to stay on its pig farms, its deputy general director, Le Xuan Huy, said. "Our farms are situated far from residential areas."

Saigon Food Joint Stock Company is converting its dressing rooms, dining rooms and warehouses into temporary accommodation for workers.

"We will hire more mobile water closets to serve workers who stay at our factory," it said.

Workers at Vfood Company’s egg production line work two meters away from each other. Photo courtesy of Vfood.

The city Department of Industry and Trade encourages companies that comply with Covid-prevention conditions to let their employees work, sleep and eat at the workplace.

Since the new wave of Covid-19 emerged in Vietnam on April 27, the nation has recorded 33,035 community infections in 58 cities and provinces. HCMC has the highest number of cases, 18,210.