Binh Duong firm lifts lockdown as South Korean expert tests Covid-19 negative

The man, whose name has not been revealed, was treated at a medical center in South Korea’s Western Incheon District, the South Korean Consulate General’s office in HCMC said Monday. He will be discharged in the coming days, the office said.

The man had entered Vietnam on January 29 and left for home in South Korea on April 1. A day later, he visited a medical center near his house for a health check and was confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus.

He was working for Sung Gwang Vina Co., Ltd., a Vietnamese manufacturing affiliate of the Sung Jin Group, at the Uyen Hung Industrial Park in Tan Uyen Town. Earlier, he had come into contact with 40 people, including four South Koreans staying in HCMC.

Huynh Thanh Ha, deputy director of Binh Duong’s health department said 39 people in close contact with the man while working at the factory tested Covid-19 negative and were allowed to return home.

A lockdown of the company has since been lifted and it has resumed operations. As many as 800 workers of the factory had been temporarily laid off to prevent the spread of the virus.

The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control also said that four South Koreans in contact with the infected man have tested negative Sunday and are exempt from being quarantined.

Vietnam has confirmed 245 Covid-19 cases so far, 95 of whom have recovered. Many of the 150 active cases are Vietnamese nationals returning from Europe and the U.S., foreigners coming from the same regions and those who’d come in contact with both groups of people.

As of Tuesday morning, South Korea had reported more than 10,000 infections and 192 deaths.

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 74,000 lives as it spread to 209 countries and territories.