Vietnam orders workers at Samsung Display unit to be quarantined after COVID-19 case

[HANOI] Authorities in northern Vietnam have ordered people working at a unit of Samsung Display in the country to be quarantined after a worker there tested positive for the new coronavirus.

A 25-year-old worker of the EQC-SI unit of the Samsung Display factory in Bac Ninh province tested positive on Sunday, according to a statement released on Monday by the anti-COVID-19 task force of neighbouring Bac Giang province.

Parent Samsung Electronics Co Ltd confirmed the case, but said Samsung Display's production lines in Vietnam had not been affected.

Nguyen Huong Giang, chair of the People's Committee of Bac Ninh province, told state broadcaster VTV on Monday that 44 people at the unit had been quarantined, and that the factory and buses used to transport workers have been sprayed with disinfectant.

Samsung Electronics is the largest single foreign investor in the Southeast Asian country, and its shipments, mostly smartphones, account for around a quarter of Vietnam's exports.

Vietnam's health ministry has reported 262 COVID-19 cases in the country, and no deaths.

REUTERS