Authorities in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai have urged the Ministry of Health to allocate more COVID-19 vaccine shots to the locality so that it can vaccinate local workers to ensure economic development.

Dong Nai Province began implementing extensive social distancing measures from July 9, according to the provincial People’s Committee.

As of Sunday, more than 60 areas in the locality had been locked down, affecting over 82,000 households with 362,000 people.

More than 900 COVID-19 patients had been recorded in the province since the fourth outbreak began in Vietnam on April 27.

Approximately 2,900 people were staying at concentrated quarantine centers and 8,400 others undergoing home quarantine.

Although local authorities have intensifying pandemic prevention and control efforts, especially at businesses and industrial parks, the highly-transmissible Delta variant has caused a lot of infection clusters.

Many of the clusters have been detected at local markets, tenanted housing areas of factory workers, and many industrial parks.

Multiple COVID-19 cases have been found at enterprises with tens of thousands of laborers, namely Pouchen and Changshin.

Within only one week from July 10 to 17, Dong Nai recorded 379 cases in the community.

The Ministry of Health has so far allocated 226,520 vaccine doses to the province, while the number of people belonging to target groups promulgated by the government is over 400,000.

In addition, nearly 1.2 million laborers at local businesses and industrial parks, who are at high risk of getting infected, have yet to receive any shot.

The Dong Nai administration thus urged the health ministry to distribute more vaccine shots so that it can administer them to local laborers promptly.

This will help ensure the dual goal of pandemic prevention and economic development, as well as prevent the disruption of supply chains for both the domestic and international markets.

Vietnam had documented 55,845 COVID-19 cases as of Monday morning, with 10,667 recoveries and 254 deaths.

The country has reported 52,215 local infections in 58 provinces and cities, including 903 cases in Dong Nai, since April 27, when the fourth virus wave began.

Dong Nai is a neighbor of Ho Chi Minh City – the country’s largest epicenter in this bout with 32,926 cases.

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