A Vietnamese man was sentenced today to five years in prison for violating the strict quarantine measures against the coronavirus and for transmitting the virus to other people, state media reported.
Li Van Tri, 28, was convicted of “transmitting dangerous infectious diseases” in a trial that lasted a day in the People’s Court of the southern province of Ka Mo, Vietnam’s state news agency reported.
Vietnam has been one of the success stories of the new coronavirus worldwide, thanks to targeted mass tests, aggressive contact tracking, strict border restrictions and strict quarantine. However, a new outbreak of infections since late April has ruined these good performances.
“The man traveled back to Ka Mo from Ho Chi Minh City and violated the 21-day quarantine rules,” the news agency reported.
“He infected eight people, one of whom died of the virus after a month of hospitalization.”, he added.
Reuters was unable to contact court officials for comment.
Ka Mo, Vietnam’s southernmost province, has recorded just 191 cases and two deaths since the pandemic began, far lower than the nearly 260,000 cases and 10,685 deaths at the heart of the country’s new coronavirus, Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam is facing a worsening pandemic that has infected more than 536,000 people and killed 13,385, the vast majority of them in recent months.
The country’s judicial authorities have sentenced two other people to 18 months and two years in prison with suspension on the same charges.
The article Coronavirus: 5 years in prison for violating quarantine by a Vietnamese was published in Fourals.com.
