Vietnam tightens borders in southwest

Border control in Vietnam’s provinces adjacent to Cambodia and Laos have been tightened ahead of national holidays as neighboring Cambodia and Laos suffer from a surge in new Covid-19 cases.

Vietnam has raised its alert to the highest level as the country will celebrate a four-day national reunification and International Workers' Day holiday from April 30 to May 3. Since the most recent Covid-19 outbreak detected in late January, Vietnam has gone over two months without community transmissions.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has directed authorities in southwestern Vietnam to strengthen Covid-19 prevention measures in response to the infection spikes in Cambodia and Laos.

Authorities are concerned the high risk of cross-border transmission will trigger a fourth wave in Vietnam, Long said, adding that the highly transmissible double mutant variants in India and the UK variant in Cambodia pose a greater risk of community transmissions.

Border guards in Quang Tri province patrol along the border with Laos in April 2021. Photo: Hoang Tao

Following the spike of locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases in Cambodia and Laos, Vietnam has ordered mobile police, militia and self-defense forces to work closely with border guards to prevent people from crossing the border illegally.

Vietnam has asked all localities to intensify surveillance, hoping to detect new infections faster. Field hospitals are being set up in the southwest, with health experts and medical staff from other provinces mobilized to support the region’s medical facilities.

Vietnam has also coordinated with forces in Cambodia to deter illegal border crossings.

Vietnam has donated US$500,000 to Cambodia along with 800 respirators, two million medical masks and 300,000 N95 masks. Cambodia has faced an increase in the number of coronavirus cases since the beginning of April.

Vietnam shares border lines of over 1,100 km with Cambodia that has been in the grip of a Covid-19 spread since late February. Its caseload has surpassed 10,000, with 580 new infections reported Monday alone, after recording only around 400 cases in the whole of last year.

Forces in northern and central Vietnam are also halting illegal entries from the Vietnam-Lao border, which runs 2,161 kilometers across 10 provinces.

The Laos government last Friday closed the nation's borders and announced a two-week lockdown in many locations. Laos in recent days has seen the biggest jump in Covid-19 cases, with 113 new patients. Another 75 cases were recorded on Tuesday, bringing the nationwide count to 511.