Health workers carry out disinfection at a shopping center in RoK’s Daejeon city (Photo: Reuters)
According to the Vietnamese Embassy in RoK, there are currently about 200,000 Vietnamese citizens living, studying and working in the country, including 8,285 people in the city of Daegu, and 18,502 people in Gyeongsangbuk province (including 333 people in Cheongdo district).
According the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK has opened a hotline to protect citizens at +82 106 315 6618, available 24 hours a day, to be ready to take measures to support and protect Vietnamese citizen in case of necessity.
The Vietnamese Labor Management Board in the RoK also published a phone number, +82 103 248 6886, for Vietnamese workers to contact when they need assistance.
The Embassy has proactively set up communication channels with heads of Vietnamese communities in the epidemic-hit areas to regularly update the situation and timely support citizens. It contacted Vietnamese citizens living in Covid-19-hit areas to encourage and ask them to strictly follow the recommendations of the local authorities. Through keeping track of the situation, the health status of the Vietnamese community in RoK has remained stable, no cases of Covid-19 infection or suspicion have been detected.
On February 21st, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese Embassy in RoK issued a notice noting that Vietnamese citizens should not go to epidemic-hit areas or areas likely to be affected by the epidemic that RoK authorities had noted; and to regularly monitor and follow the instructions of the local authorities to prevent disease.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed the Ministries of Labor, War-Invalids and Social Affairs, Education and Training, and Health to coordinate to direct companies consulting students to study abroad to inform situation of Covid-19 to workers and students, who are planning to go to RoK in the near future to take preventive measures; regularly keep in close contact with stakeholders (universities, employers, local brokers) to know the situation, and take measures to support Vietnamese students and workers in RoK.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also proposed that the Korean side should take measures to ensure the health, security, safety and support of Vietnamese citizens in RoK, especially in epidemic-hit areas./.