Returnees take a quick test at a quarantine site in Hoa Phu commune, Buon Ma Thuot city, Dak Lak.

H'Yim Kdoh, Vice Chair of the Provincial People's Committee of Dak Lak, told VietNamNet that in recent days, the number of returnees from southern provinces has been huge, with 1,500 people on October 2 alone. It is predicted that the number of returnees will be larger in the coming days.

According to H'Yim Kdoh, Dak Lak province has about 120,000 citizens who work and live in southern provinces and cities. If all of them return home, the province will face great pressure on the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic.

To prevent the epidemic, the local government has worked out detailed plans to welcome returnees in the safest way.

Accordingly, the citizens who have had fully vaccinated are allowed to quarantine at home. Those who have get one dose of vaccine will be quarantined at concentrated isolation zones managed by towns and districts. Those who have not been vaccinated yet will be quarantined at concentrated isolation sites managed by the provincial authorities. The people who are quarantined at concentrated quarantine centers will have to pay a daily quarantine fee of VND120,000 (over $5)/person.

In Gia Lai province, the local Steering Committee for Disease Prevention and Control said that the province would welcome its citizens back in order of priority, such as disadvantaged people and those with urgent needs.

Since May 28, the authorities of Gia Lai province have brought 469 citizens, including 241 pregnant women and 42 children who were in very difficult circumstances in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai back home.

So far, about 58,000 people have traveled from the southern provinces to Gia Lai to avoid the epidemic. More than 32,000 people have been sent to concentrated isolation centers. Returnees account for over 80% of the province's total infection cases.

For the disadvantaged citizens who have not been able to return home, Gia Lai province has given them VND1 million/person. As many as 573 people have received financial support.

According to Phan Nhat Thanh, Chairman of Dak R'lap District People's Committee in Dak Nong Province, on the evening of October 2, about 1,000 people returned home. Most of them were workers and freelance workers.

D. Nguyen

Tens of thousands of people leave epidemic-hit areas to return to their hometowns

The huge flow of people leaving Vietnam’s Covid-19 hotspots to their hometowns in southwestern provinces has overloaded concentrated quarantine zones, where infection cases have been detected.