An unused duty-free shop in Tay Ninh Province turned into a quarantine for Vietnamese nationals

Closed for five years, the Moc Bai duty-free shop in Ben Cau Commune is close to the Moc Bai international border gate between the two countries. It can accommodate 500 people.

For the last four days authorities have been cleaning the place, fixing the electrical system and installing fans to prepare for the quarantine.

The dining area of the supermarket has been cleaned and lined with portable cots.

A worker vacuums the floor.

Nguyen Van To, one of the cleaning staff, said, “The market was abandoned for a long time, and so it took us days to make it clean.”

500 cots have been placed inside.

What used to be the clothing section is used to store drinking water.

Authorities have cordoned off the area to keep trespassers out.

Since Sunday foreign nationals have not been allowed to enter Vietnam through the border gate. Vietnamese nationals have to make a health declaration and are quarantined.
Cambodia too closed off its borders to outsiders on March 20.
As of Monday afternoon Vietnam and Cambodia had confirmed 121 and 86 cases of infection. No deaths have been reported.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Dung, deputy chief of commissar of the Tay Ninh Border Guard, said: “Prior to the epidemic, an average of 5,000 Vietnamese and Cambodia crossed the international border every day. Since the outbreak began, border guards at Moc Bai have placed 1,000 people in quarantine.”

Border guards are on watch for people crossing from both countries. The Ministry of Health has confirmed the first two Covid-19 cases in Tay Ninh Province.
Patients number 117 and 118 returned to Vietnam from Cambodia on March 19 and both showed Covid-19 symptoms like cough, fever and shortness of breath. They were taken to the Tay Ninh General Hospital and quarantined. X-rays showed their lungs had a pulmonary infiltrate.