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he cafeteria of a company in Thuan An city, Binh Duong is equipped with partitions.

Focus on controlling the pandemic

Along with HCM City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai are the localities with the largest number of industrial zones and workers in the country. The leader of the Binh Duong Provincial Labor Confederation said there were currently 171 firms affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In which, the number of employees that are F0, F1, and F2 has totalled more than 5,400 people.

The Ministry of Health has focused on pandemic prevention in HCM City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and neighboring provinces with industrial zones. The Ministry of Health assessed that the risk of infection in these industrial zones was very high because there have been infected cases in this area.

Therefore, controlling the pandemic in industrial zones is a priority for southern localities. To control the pandemic in industrial zones, the Ministry of Health has issued detailed instructions on infection prevention. In the long term, the Ministry of Health will increase the distribution of vaccines to workers in localities including HCM City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Long An.

Currently, Binh Duong has 50,000 enterprises with more than 1.2 million employees from most provinces and cities in the whole country. Binh Duong has 29 industrial zones with more than 2,000 enterprises; 12 industrial clusters with 40,000 employees; and hostels are intertwined with factories and enterprises, so the risk of pandemic spreading into businesses is high.

Additionally, Binh Duong is adjacent to HCM City and three neighboring provinces, including Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, and Tay Ninh, with a lot of people commuting and trading daily, especially employees working in industrial zones. Thus, there is always a potential risk of disease cases entering Binh Duong.

Bui Minh Tri, Head of Binh Duong Industrial Zones Management Board, said the pandemic had a great impact on the operation of industrial zones. Therefore, after many cases of infection were recorded among workers, pandemic prevention in factories has been enhanced. Enterprises apply information technology in medical declaration and worker management such as accommodation, travel, and contacts to facilitate tracing and zoning when detecting cases.

Thanks to timely measures, many businesses have protected production amid the pandemic. Duong Quoc Thang, Chairman of the union of Perstima Vietnam Company located in VSIP Industrial Park (Thuan An), said when a driver of the company tested positive for Covid-19, nearly half of the staff had to be isolated but thanks to making a plan in advance, production activities at the factory were maintained. The other half of the staff was still working, prioritizing orders to be delivered first. The company set up tents, installed more toilets, washing areas separate from the production area for on-site activities for isolated workers.

Similarly, thanks to quick zoning and tracing when a case was recorded on June 14, Kim Xuong Shoe Company, Dai Dang Industrial Park (Thu Dau Mot City), with more than 3,600 workers has maintained production. The company installed a disinfection chamber, completed partitions, and built a treatment process to avoid being passive when the factory detected an infection.

Protect the border area

In Dong Nai, pandemic prevention in enterprises and industrial zones is a top priority. According to statistics of the People's Committee of Dong Nai province, there are about 1.2 million workers in this area, of which 600,000 people work in industrial zones. Many foreign-invested enterprises have many employees such as: Changshin Vietnam Company, Taekwang Vina, Pouchen, and Phong Thai Group with 20,000 to 40,000 workers.

According to the statistics of enterprises, about 10,000 foreign workers and experts go back and forth between Dong Nai and HCM City and Binh Duong every day. This is considered a great risk of disease spreading from places where the pandemic is happening to Dong Nai. Unless the pandemic is strictly controlled, Dong Nai will face difficulties when people enter the industrial park.

Many companies have actively arranged accommodation for experts and workers living in HCM City to stay in Dong Nai during this time. Ocean coatings Vietnam Co., Ltd (Long Thanh Industrial Park, Long Thanh district) has installed six containers at the company to serve as temporary accommodation for their employees. Each container has an area of 30m2 with air-conditioner, ventilation, windows, main door, and lights. Each container has a capacity of 10 people (divided into two shifts, day and night). To ensure daily life for employees, the company set up toilets, washing areas, and bought freezers, blankets, pillows, mattresses and other essential items. Every day, the kitchen cooks meals at a cost of VND150,000 per person. Employees at the company are also periodically tested.

In addition to Ocean coatings Vietnam Co., Ltd., other units such as: Shinpoong Daewoo Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (Bien Hoa City), and Greenfeed JSC, Dong Nai branch (Trang Bom District) also have plans to expand accommodation at the company for experts and workers living in HCM City to stay in Dong Nai during this peak time.