Police in Ho Chi Minh City on January 11 prosecuted a local man over allegation of spreading infectious diseases to humans.
| On December 3, 2020, Ho Chi Minh City’s police started criminal proceedings of the case. Photo: Van Son/Dan Tri |
D.T.H, 28, or Covid-19 Patient No.1342, a flight attendant of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, was prosecuted under Article 240 in the Criminal Code 2015 that has the maximum punishment of 12 years behind bars.
Ho Chi Minh City underwent 120 days without local infections until November 28, 2020 when D.T.H was tested positive for SARS-COV-2 and three locally-transmitted cases.
Initial investigation showed that D.T.H got infected when he met a confirmed patient in the same quarantine zone. He then spread the virus to his friend (Covid-19 Patient No.1347) who came to visit him when he was under home quarantine.
The infections prompted testing on 3,263 related people.
| Vietnam Airlines’ trademark has been hurt after the incident. Photo: Zingnews |
After the incident, Vietnam Airlines staff made apologies online, saying sorry for the incident.
Shortly after the infections were reported, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked authorized agencies to halt all international commercial flights except for necessary repatriation ones.
Following the request, the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam said it would cancel a plan on operating 33 flights per week to repatriate Vietnamese nationals from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The Prime Minister also required crew members on international flights to go to army-controlled quarantine centers and certified quarantine facilities instead of Vietnam Airlines-registered quarantine zones.
Before the incident, Vietnam had planned to resume roughly 330 international commercial flights to seven countries and territories namely China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.
Some local experts said Vietnam Airlines’ trademark has been hurt after the case. The national flag carrier has been performing well in repatriating Vietnamese citizens in the Covid-19 pandemic.
