Leaders of Vietnam’s biggest city have warned local authorities of Covid-19 transmission from outside sources in the face of surging infections in Thailand and the neighboring country of Cambodia.

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City tightens control over Vietnamese returnees in March 2020. Photo: Thanh Nien

"Given high risk of being transmitted from neighboring countries, Ho Chi Minh City needs to focus on tackling illegal immigration," Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said at a meeting on April 12.

The city's leader summoned the meeting to tighten precautionary measures, especially those taken in the border areas in the context that Cambodia continued recording some 400-500 cases per day and Thailand with roughly 900 cases daily over the last few days.

Phong asked each residential area to be proactive in supervising the immigration while police and military need to keep vigilance on quarantining illegal immigrants.

He also urged local authorities to speed up the immunization that initially prioritizes frontline forces namely health workers, police, army officers, people working at quarantine centers and hotels used for quarantine purposes.

Thonglor becomes a ghost town as new virus clusters emerge. Photo: Tanisorn Vongsoontorn/Time Out Bangkok

Recently, a number of Chinese young people illegally entered Vietnam to go to Cambodia while some groups of Vietnamese people in Cambodia attempted to leave the country due to the widespread pandemic.

Vietnam has undergone nearly 40 days without locally-transmitted Covid-19 infections. Its total caseload is 2,707, including 1,570 convalescents.

Cambodia sees the rising cases since the February 20 Incident which saw four Chinese nationals bribe their way out of a quarantine hotel and visit a series of nightclubs. Two of those Chinese nationals later tested positive. As of April 13, the country confirmed 4,700 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Thailand is also suffering the fresh Covid-19 wave which is now sweeping 70 cities and provinces in connection with the Thonglor Covid-19 cluster [came from partying in some entertainment venues in Bangkok]. The country’s caseload hit more than 34,000 as of April 13.

The World Health Organization Cambodia and Thailand warned that the infections in the two countries continue to surge following the ongoing New Year festivals (Songkran in Thailand and Chol Chnam Thmay in Cambodia).