A worker at Foster Electric Bắc Ninh Co in the Việt Nam-Singapore Industrial Park. Bắc Ninh needs to proactively co-ordinate with relevant ministries and sectors and MoIT to propose to the Government to allow the entry of some leading experts and let them work online when they are isolated under regulations when entering Việt Nam. Photo bacninh.gov.vn

HÀ NỘI — Bắc Ninh authorities have called for the province's more than 400,000 industrial park workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to avoid a two-week shutdown of the parks that would cause about VNĐ50 trillion (US$2.15 billion) in damage.

At an online meeting between leaders of Bắc Ninh and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on Wednesday, the provincial officials calculated that if the local industrial parks (IPs) are shut down for two weeks, it would cause about VNĐ50 trillion in damage, reducing the industrial production value of the province by more than 4 per cent and the country by 0.5 per cent.

The leaders said vaccinating all workers in production facilities and industrial parks was vital.

Chairwoman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyễn Hương Giang said outbreaks that began in early May had forced many IPs in Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang to be isolated and halted many production activities, consumption and transportation.

Giang said: “Some businesses, especially large corporations, had to partially or completely suspend production to cope with the pandemic and their production chain is at risk of being broken,” adding: “It could cause billions of dollars in damage.”

Giang also mentioned the shortage of labourers as many people who work in the province are struggling to return to it due to movement restrictions in the province and neighbouring areas.

Đào Hồng Lan, the provincial Party Committee Secretary, suggested the MoIT issue a framework to guide the response scenarios by separating solutions for production lines and organising production in each period so the province can guide its businesses.

Lan said: “The province suggested the MoIT should have some measures to encourage business owners, especially large foreign direct investment enterprises, to make them believe in the local environment and stay with the locality to overcome difficulties."

The MoIT calculated Bắc Ninh was the province with the largest industrial production value in the country.

“The export turnover of Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang in the field of electronics and mechanics accounts for about 30 per cent of the country's export turnover,” said Đặng Hòang An, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade.

An said the MoIT asked Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính to prioritise vaccinating workers in production facilities, industrial parks and factories in the province.

“The priority must be given to vaccination for workers in the IPs because it is the cheapest and most effective measure," he said.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyễn Hồng Diên said: “Areas with no cases reported should have a plan to organise production and manage workers and maintain their normal production activities."

The minister also asked to regularly check the safety of production facilities and not let unsafe facilities operate.

He told Bắc Ninh to provide for both the material and spiritual needs of their workers.

The minister asked Bắc Ninh to work with ministries and sectors and the MoIT to ask the Government to allow the entry of some leading experts and let them work online during their entry quarantine period.

Related to the supply of goods, Trần Duy Đông, director of the Domestic Market Department, said his department regularly worked with Bắc Ninh on measures to ensure supply and stabilise the market as well as remove difficulties in goods circulation.

“Currently, the supply of essential goods in Bắc Ninh still meets the demand and the price is stable," Đông said.

Việt Nam's total infections in the ongoing fourth wave since April 27 has exceeded 3,000 cases, with Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh the two main hotspots, with more than 1,500 and 650 cases, respectively. VNS