Year-end plans scrapped following new Covid-19 outbreak

By Vien Thong, Anh Tu January 29, 2021 | 05:58 pm PT

A Vietnam Airlines flight attendant wearing protective suit on a special flight in March 2020. Photo courtesy of Vietnam Airlines.

Many companies changed their year-end plans soon after the first two locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 in nearly two months were reported last Thursday.

A private school in Hanoi, Nguyen Sieu, decided to postpone a seminar on studying abroad scheduled for January 30 to March.

In HCMC, NCT Corporation, an entertainment software development company, canceled its year-end party scheduled for January 28.

Its founder and CEO, Nhan The Luan, said: "We had prepared everything to welcome over 500 guests including our employees, their families and friends, singers, performers. However, due to the new Covid-19 outbreak, I am very sorry to inform that our year-end party is canceled."

A major media company based in the city’s District 1 decided to call off its end-of-year trip at the last minute.

"Our plan was to go on a company trip to Quy Nhon tomorrow [January 29]. But considering the number of new cases of Covid-19, we decided not to leave HCMC," Quoc Sang, an employee, said.

Some companies in Hanoi have told their employees to work from home or work in the office in shifts.

Ride-hailing and food delivery giant Grab and ride-hailing service provider Be Group have suspended their services in Quang Ninh Province, with the former also doing so in Hai Duong Province.

The Health Ministry on Saturday morning confirmed 34 more Covid-19 patients in Hai Duong Province and its neighbor Quang Ninh, raising the current outbreak tally to 180. To date, Vietnam has registered 1,739 cases and 253 are active.