400 Chinese workers returning to Formosa Vietnam from China

Taiwanese steel company Formosa in central Vietnam is wary of taking back 400 returning Chinese workers who went home for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Fearful they might have contracted the new coronavirus infection, it has told them not to return until February 15, and then only if they fulfill certain criteria. VNExpress, a local media reports.

Duong Tat Thang, Deputy Chairman of Ha Tinh Province, where the company is situated, said there are more than 700 Chinese nationals working in its plant. During the Lunar New Year holiday 400 of them returned home to China to their families.

Now, Formosa said in a statement, they would have to go through stringent health checks before returning to work. They must be checked and certified by authorities in China that they have been infection-free for more than 14 days.

Workers at the Formosa steel plant in Ha Tinh Province, central Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Formosa.

When the workers arrive in Vietnam, they will again have to undergo heath checks. On arrival at the company gates, they would have their body temperature checked again before they are admitted in, the company said. It has installed devices to check workers’ body temperature at all entry and exit points.

Vietnam has so far recorded five cases of infection, three Vietnamese returning from Wuhan and two Chinese nationals. As of Friday morning there were 97 suspected cases, with 32 of them in quarantine pending test results. Tuesday this week,  one of the first confirmed cases has recovered.

The government has suspended all flights to and from infected areas in China and suspended visas for visitors from there.

As of Jan 31, the death toll in China from the coronavirus rose to 213, as the World Health Organization declared a health emergency for a disease that now has more global cases than were officially reported during the SARS epidemic.

By Hoang Phong @ VNExpress, Edited by Vietnam Insider staff