A health official sprays disinfectant at the HCM City University of Transport. — Photo thanhnien.vn

HCM CITY — Amid concerns over the spread of novel coronavirus, the HCM City Department of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs has told a number of firms that 1,079 foreign workers who recently travelled to China and returned to HCM City to work after the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday must be quarantined.

The department asked the HCM City Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park and Authority (HEPZA) and the management board of Saigon Hi-Tech Park to work quickly with local authorities to send any worker who has returned from the city of Wuhan and Hubei Province in China to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in HCM City for quarantine and treatment, said Lê Minh Tấn, director of the department.

Foreign workers who have returned from travelling to other cities and provinces in China are required to "self-quarantine" for 14 days in the basement of their homes, apartments, hotels or other lodgings.

Quarantined staff are not allowed to come to the workplace and must work from their lodging facility during the 14-day period when they are required to isolate themselves, Tấn said.

Firms have also been asked to set aside a separate area for self-quarantine for Chinese employees in factories and workshops, he said.

Leaders of State agencies and enterprises are responsible for requiring Chinese staff to schedule health check-ups and treatment to protect themselves and the community from the coronavirus infection, he said.

Workers from China have been informed not to return to HCM City to work if they have not left the country yet, he added. 

A total of 3,571 Chinese labourers are licensed to work at 187 firms in HCM City, according to the department.

The department, HEPZA and the management board of Saigon Hi-Tech Park have temporarily stopped granting work licenses to Chinese labourers.

University measures

Many universities in the city are stepping up measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus at campuses and dormitories, including delaying the opening of schools and spraying disinfectants.

Đặng Bá Bình, head of the cultural information and student support unit at the dormitory of HCM City National University, said the dormitory was equipped with 20 thermometres to check students’ body temperature at entrance and exit gates.

Lavabos and anti-viral hand foam are available for more than 34,000 students at the dormitory for easy access to hand washing, Bình said.

The school has also sprayed disinfectant in the dormitory.

Bùi Hữu Toàn, rector of the HCM City University of Banking, said the school had set up a board dedicated to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

The board of 22 staff led by the rector has been implementing preventive measures such as spraying disinfectant in classrooms and the dormitory, Toàn said.

The board has also disseminated information about the coronavirus infection and preventive measures to students, and urged them to wash their hands frequently, he said. — VNS