HANOI: Vietnam jailed a man for 18 months on Friday for breaking strict COVID-19 quarantine rules, spreading the virus to others and causing financial damage to authorities, state media reported.
Dao Duy Tung, 30, was convicted of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases” at a one-day trial at the People’s Court of northern province of Hai Duong, the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.
Vietnam has been one of the world’s coronavirus success stories, thanks to targeted mass testing, aggressive contact tracing, tight border restrictions and strict quarantine but new clusters of infections in recent weeks have tarnished that record.
“Tung illegally entered Vietnam from Laos on April 22 and breached the 14-day quarantine regulations,” the news agency said.
“After having been notified that his contacts in Laos tested positive for the virus, Tung failed to show up at medical facilities to get tested,” it added. “Instead, he traveled to other cities, came into contact with many people, and visited several places.”
Vietnam has seen record high numbers of daily infections since late April. In all, it has recorded 42,288 infections and 207 deaths.
Hai Duong province, which is adjacent to the capital Hanoi, has reported only 51 cases since late April, much lower than some 22,000 in the country’s coronavirus epicenter of Ho Chi Minh City in the south.
Tung’s violations caused financial damage of more than 3 billion dong ($130,372.43) to the authorities, according to the VNA report. It did not elaborate nor say how many people Tung had infected.
Calls to the court in Hai Duong were not answered.
Vietnam has spent 21.5 trillion dong ($934.34 million) of its state budget fighting the virus, the government said on Friday. That includes payment for vaccines and equipment and help to people affected by the pandemic, the government said.
In late March, a court sentenced a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant to a two-year suspended jail term on the same charges. ($1 = 23,011 dong)
Vietnamese man jailed for 18 months for spreading COVID-19
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Vietnamese man jailed for 18 months for spreading COVID-19
- Vietnam has seen record high numbers of daily infections since late April
UN chief Guterres warns ‘powerful forces’ undermining global ties
- Guterres paid tribute to Britain for its decisive role in the creation of the United Nations
- He said 2025 had been a “profoundly challenging year for international cooperation and the values of the UN“
LONDON: UN chief Antonio Guterres Saturday deplored a host of “powerful forces lining up to undermine global cooperation” in a London speech marking the 80th anniversary of the first UN General Assembly.
Guterres, whose term as secretary-general ends on December 31 this year, delivered the warning at the Methodist Central Hall in London, where representatives from 51 countries met on January 10, 1946, for the General Assembly’s first session.
They met in London because the UN headquarters in New York had not yet been built.
Guterres paid tribute to Britain for its decisive role in the creation of the United Nations and for continuing to champion it.
But he said 2025 had been a “profoundly challenging year for international cooperation and the values of the UN.”
“We see powerful forces lining up to undermine global cooperation,” he said, adding: “Despite these rough seas, we sail ahead.”
Guterres cited a new treaty on marine biological diversity as an example of continued progress.
The treaty establishes the first legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of marine diversity in the two-thirds of oceans beyond national limits.
“These quiet victories of international cooperation — the wars prevented, the famine averted, the vital treaties secured — do not always make the headlines,” he said.
“Yet they are real. And they matter.”
