Covid epicenter Bac Giang turns ghost town

The February 3rd Square in the heart of Bac Giang Town, the capital of Bac Giang Province, on Thursday morning. With 1,678, the province neighboring Hanoi has accounted for half of all Covid cases in the ongoing wave in the country.
Since May 18 it has imposed social distancing in six of its nine districts while people in the remaining districts and the town of Bac Giang are not allowed to go out except for certain reasons.
The social distancing order also prohibits social events, gatherings of over 20 people at one place and gatherings of 10 or more people outside of workplaces, schools and hospitals, and requires a minimum distance of two meters between people in public places.

A Covid-19 checkpoint at one of Bac Giang Town’s entrances on National Highway No.1.
All arrivals have their temperature checked and must complete a health declaration.

With a mask on, a man strolls on Le Loi Street in Bac Giang Town on Thursday morning.

Hung Vuong Street in the center of Bac Giang Town, which normally has a lot of traffic, is now deserted.

Stores, restaurants and coffee shops along Le Van Canh Street in Bac Giang Town remain closed.

Only a few restaurants are open but only serve takeout.

A man in Dinh Ke Ward picks up food at a makeshift barrier set up to isolate the residential area he lives in after cases of Covid were found there.
"My neighborhood is under isolation since May 7, and every day my relatives send over food and other essential products," he said.

The biggest supermarket in Bac Giang Town is virtually empty on May 27.

A majority of vendors at Thuong Market, the biggest in Bac Giang Town, have closed their shops.

Nguyen Thi Binh, who sells legumes at the market, said, "I have barely sold anything for a week now but still have to open my store and run my business or else the legumes will turn musty."
She said business is dull because most of her customers are wholesale buyers from other places who could not come due to the pandemic. Since the new wave broke out, infections have spread to 31 cities and provinces, mostly in the north.

A residential area on Ngo Quyen Street in Bac Giang Town locked down in this photo taken on May 25.

A section of National Highway No.1 that runs through Viet Yen District.
On the right in the photo is Van Trung Industrial Park (IP), one of the biggest Covid hotspots in the province.
Van Trung, three other IPs in Viet Yen District, Quang Chau, Dinh Tram and Song Khe, and Noi Hoang IP in Yen Dung District have been shut since May 18 following an escalation in the number of workers who contracted the infection. The IPs are home, among others, to 13 Samsung suppliers and Apple partners Foxconn and Luxshare.