Vietnam cracks down on illegal entries from China as Covid-19 cases flare up
- The Southeast Asian nation is reeling from 192 new infections and 10 deaths since July 25, after going three months without detected local transmissions
- Vietnam’s prime minister ordered an investigation of illegal border crossings from China on the same day the virus resurfaced last month
There were 43 new cases reported on Wednesday and 34 more on Thursday, bringing Vietnam’s total to 747 cases. There have been 192 new cases since the virus resurfaced in Da Nang, the country’s new epicentre, on July 25, including all 10 of Vietnam’s related deaths. Infections have since been found in at least 10 locations around the country.
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On Tuesday, six men were sentenced to between two and six years of prison each for smuggling Chinese citizens into Vietnam. They were reportedly paid 4,000 yuan (US$573) for each smuggled individual.
Major General To An Xo, chief of the office of the Ministry of Public Security, said there had been an increasing number of illegal entries from neighbouring countries, mainly China.
At a regular press meeting on Monday, Xo said China had been suffering from the pandemic and other natural disasters, so a number of Chinese nationals had entered relatively safe Vietnam to find work or to travel. He said 177 of them had illegally entered the country since June.
Others had crossed through Vietnam to go to Cambodia for gambling activities, reported the An Ninh Thu Do newspaper run by the Hanoi police.