Coronavirus: social media anger in Vietnam at jet-setter linked to new cluster in Hanoi

Vietnam now has 34 Covid-19 cases, after a new cluster emerged three weeks after it reported its last infections

Hanoi’s patient zero, who flew business class on a flight from London, has been named and is being targeted online

Reading Time:4 minutes

A Vietnamese woman wearing a face mask rides a bicycle in Hanoi. The capital’s streets are quiet after news of a new cluster of coronavirus infections spread. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 8:38pm, 10 Mar 2020Updated: 10:12pm, 10 Mar 2020

At least 40 provinces and a number of cities in Vietnam, including Hanoi, will keep their students away from schools until the end of next week in the wake of a cluster of new coronavirus infections in the country.

Vietnam now has 34 confirmed Covid-19 infections, with 210 suspected cases and over 20,000 in quarantine. Last Thursday, it had 16 recovered cases and had not reported any new infections for 22 days. But on Friday, Vietnam’s 17th case was announced in Hanoi.

The city’s patient zero, a woman named Nguyen Hong Nhung, had last month visited London, Milan and Paris and returned home from London to Hanoi on a Vietnam Airlines flight on March 2.

Nhung is the only person referred to by name on the government’s portal since the latest infections emerged. The Vietnamese online community has since expressed outrage towards the 26-year-old Hanoi resident, who reportedly lives in an extravagant home and regularly flaunted her jet-setting lifestyle on her now-closed Instagram account.

Soldiers spray disinfectant as a precaution against the coronavirus in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo: EPA-EFE

Several Facebook groups have been formed to rant about her, accusing her of being a spoilt rich kid, being irresponsible, and calling for jail time and fines to be imposed on her.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x