Chinese people who illegally entered Vietnam are detected by traffic police on Noi Bai - Lao Cai expressway. (Photo: Lao Cai newspaper)

This is the opinion of National Assembly (NA) deputy Bui Van Phuong, member of the NA Economic Committee, vice head of the NA delegation of Ninh Binh province in response to the proposal of the HCM City Center for Disease Control (HCDC): “It is necessary to impose heavy sanctions against people who illegally enter the country, to consider imposing special criminal penalties on those who give a hand to illegal entry.”

In particular, assisting infected people, particularly Covid-19 infected, to illegally enter Vietnam is a violation that can cause very serious consequences for the country if the act is not detected in time.

“So it is necessary to strictly punish such acts to deter and alert those who have intentions to bring people illegally into Vietnam for profit during the pandemic time. If the penalty framework is not enough to prevent or deter such acts, it must be modified,” deputy Phuong said.

In response to the opinion that it is necessary to impose the death penalty on these cases, deputy Phuong emphasized that the penalty must be based on the consequences caused by the act.

If that act leads to the spread of the disease causing death to many people, seriously affecting the life, economy and society of the country, that act is especially dangerous for society.

“Such acts in accordance with criminal law can be considered the death penalty framework. In this very urgent situation, it is necessary to impose heavy penalties to prevent and deter the acts," said deputy Phuong.

On August 14, the Ministry of Health announced that HCM City had found a Covid-19 infected Chinese who illegally entered Vietnam through the northern border with seven others on July 27. The group went to HM City by car on July 29.

On July 30, the group was discovered and quarantined. They were tested three times and all were negative. The fourth test on August 12 revealed that one of them was positive for SARS-CoV-2.

The HCM City Center for Disease Control said that if this case had not been detected, this would have been a source of infection in the community and would have led to an outbreak from an unknown source of transmission.

“And then epidemic prevention would have been much more difficult because HCM City has a large population and it is the exchange hub of the country. This is really dangerous to the city and the whole country if we cannot detect all cases of illegal entry,” the HCM City Center for Disease Control said.

The center recommended that the entire society, community and relevant agencies take measures to thoroughly solve the problem. It also proposed imposing heavy sanctions on those illegally entering Vietnam and special criminal penalties on those who give a hand to illegal entries.

N. Huyen

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