On May 17, Vietnam confirmed 181 Covid-19 infections, including 97 in Bac Giang hotspot, and 47 in Bac Ninh, two provinces are home to Apple’s major assembler Foxconn and the world’s largest memory chip manufacturer Samsung.

Policemen support the fight against Covid-19 in Bac Giang. Photo: Baobacgiang

Bac Giang remains the coronavirus hotspot in Vietnam with the widespread transmission in industrial parks, gaining support from different sectors and areas across the country.

On May 17, Military Medical Academy under the Ministry of National Defence installed makeshift testing center equipped with updated technologies in Bac Giang.

Meanwhile, military medical workforce and health professionals from some provinces have joined the testing in the locality in the past two days.

Chairman of the Bac Giang People’s Committee Le Anh Duong told Zing that the challenge that faces Bac Giang now is weak testing capacity. A large amount of samples are waiting for testing results.

He said the number of confirmed cases and those who made contact with them are on the rise, adding that the local government expected to bring the pandemic under control before the national election on May 23 but “it’s hard to meet the deadline,” he emphasized.

Vietnam's daily Covid-19 infections between April 29 and May 17. Source: MOH. Chart: Minh Vu

On the same day, Bac Ninh province suspended the coming of 30,000 workers from Bac Giang to prevent the coronavirus transmission, according to Bui Hoang Mai, head of Bac Ninh’s Management Board of Industrial Parks.

Bac Giang asked workers not to leave the locality [to go to their hometown or to other provinces] to prevent coronavirus transmission.

As of May 17, Bac Giang has detected 411 infections while Bac Ninh confirmed 290 cases.