"Employees Must Secure Vaccines Themselves" Vietnam Demands Vaccine Procurement from Samsung Electronics and Others

Vietnam Facing Rapid Spread of COVID-19
Urges Overseas Companies to "Encourage Securing Staff"

Samsung factory located in Bac Ninh Province, Vietnam

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] As the spread of COVID-19 intensifies, the Vietnamese government has demanded that foreign companies operating in the country, including Samsung Electronics, procure vaccines directly for their local employees.

On the 31st (local time), according to Bloomberg News, an official from Bac Ninh Province, where about half of Samsung Electronics' annual smartphone shipments are produced, stated, "The government is encouraging foreign companies to secure vaccines for their employees."

Bac Ninh Province will implement quarantine guidelines starting from the 2nd, requiring workers to stay overnight within the company premises. This measure aims to halt infections by stopping workers from commuting in and out of the area.

An official from Bac Ninh Province said, "We have instructed companies to prepare accommodations within factories and establish procedures that allow work to continue while preventing the spread of the virus."

Vietnam has seen more than half of its cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases occur in the past month due to the spread of a new variant virus that is a mixture of the Indian and UK variants. In Bac Ninh Province, patients discovered during this period account for one out of every ten cumulative confirmed cases.

Production bases in Bac Giang Province, where Apple and Samsung's factories are located, recently closed their factories following orders from local governments. A Bac Giang official said, "We are supporting the reopening of factories that were closed during the shutdown of four industrial complexes."

Amid concerns that the spread of COVID-19 will damage corporate production networks, the Vietnamese government recently distributed 200,000 vaccine doses each to Bac Ninh and Bac Giang Provinces. Bloomberg News reported that "vaccinations are expected to take place within a week."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.