Authorities in southern Vietnam’s Binh Duong Province on Wednesday fined a man being treated at a COVID-19 quarantine facility for impersonating a doctor and telling inpatients to go home.

T.V.H., a COVID-19 patient being treated at a concentrated quarantine center at Han Thuyen Elementary School in Thu Dau Mot City, was slapped with a VND7.5 million fine (US$330) for “posing as other organizations and individuals, and spreading false and untruthful information that infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of other organizations and individuals.”

Last Sunday, H. created an account named 'Dr. Long' on Zalo, a Vietnamese chat app, and sent a message to a chat group of inpatients at Han Thuyen Elementary School which read, “List of patients to be discharged on September 5. All of you are allowed to go home.”

He then sent a follow-up message which read, “Everyone, please pack your things neatly and gather downstairs at 8:30 am tomorrow.”

Upon being alerted to the situation, the management board of the quarantine center reported the case to local police and the provincial Department of Information and Communications.

During a working session with functional forces on Wednesday, H. admitted to the violations and promised not to repeat his actions.  

Binh Duong is still one of Vietnam’s hardest-hit provinces in terms of COVID-19 cases.  

An additional 3,172 infections were recorded in the locality on Wednesday, bringing the total number of community cases to 141,765, accounting for about 5.5 percent of the total population.

Tens of thousands of patients are still in treatment and isolation facilities, while over 14,700 cases are awaiting results from real-time RT-PCR testing.

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