Taiwan firm fined for Covid-19 neglect

The Eastech Vietnam company is located in Chi Linh Town, once a Covid-19 hotspot in Hai Duong. As such, before resuming operations it should have determined whether returning workers were those who had to self-quarantine at home or had come from locked-down areas to deploy appropriate measures and limit overcrowding, Nguyen Van Kien, chairman of the Chi Linh People's Committee, said Saturday.

On Wednesday, the firm allowed 350 workers to return to work without due checks. The same day, Luu Van Ban, Deputy Chairman of the Hai Duong provincial People's Committee, asked the firm to suspend operations pending fulfillment of all Covid-19 prevention efforts.

Eastech Vietnam has since complied with authorities' requests and resumed operations.

The northern province of Hai Duong, epicenter of Vietnam's latest Covid-19 wave since late January, remains the biggest coronavirus hotspot so far with 724 cases.

Vietnam has begun a mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign earlier this month, prioritizing frontline workers in the Covid-19 fight. As of Sunday, over 32,000 Vietnamese had received their first shots of the vaccine produced by British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.

The country's total coronavirus tally stands at 2,572, with 335 active cases.