1. What counts as essential?

This was a contentious question throughout the fourth wave of the pandemic in Vietnam. Vietnam had no unified regulation on “essential goods and services” in the context of social distancing, so each locality had its own different rules.

After many controversial incidents, on 27 July, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Official Dispatch No. 4482 proposing that the Government issue a list of goods “prohibited from circulation” instead of listing “essential goods”. This proposal was not implemented. On 25 August, at a meeting, the Minister of Transport proposed recognising that all goods are essential.

A review of the most controversial incidents surrounding the definition of essential during the fourth wave:

Fined for taking a critically ill cat to the vet (Long An)

On the afternoon of 13 July, Nguyễn Anh Đức, who works in the Traffic Police Unit of Tân An City Police (Long An), posted online a clip of two young people taking a cat to the vet who were written up for violating Directive 16. He filmed the clip himself for propaganda purposes, to deter those violating Directive 16.

• In the clip, the young woman, holding the cat, explains that her cat is seriously ill and needs to see a vet. The checkpoint officer (who is also the person filming) demands to see their papers, but the two young people say they were in such a hurry that they did not bring them. The young woman repeatedly asks for understanding and bursts into tears. The checkpoint officer replies loudly: “crying over a cat, really”, “is the life of a cat as important as the lives of people and of a whole community”.
• The incident drew attention and sparked a debate around the question: “Are veterinary services essential?”. Netizens objected to the checkpoint officer’s “callous” attitude, “lack of love for animals”, and rigid conduct. Many argued that excluding veterinary care from the list of essential services was unreasonable.
• The Long An authorities held that the fine in this case was correct because, under Directive 16, veterinary services were not allowed to operate, but that filming the clip to post on social media was offensive and showed signs of being “not up to standard” in the performance of official duties.
• On 14 July, the police officer sent a heartfelt letter sharing his view of the incident. He said that he and his family were being mentally terrorised by netizens, and called on people “not to let a personal need affect the community”.

Fined for going to withdraw cash (Ho Chi Minh City)

• According to Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, on 10 July, Vũ Minh Nhật went from his home (Ward 3, Bình Thạnh District) to an ATM on Phan Xích Long Street (Ward 7, Phú Nhuận District) to withdraw cash.
• When he was about 10 metres from the ATM, he was ordered to stop by officials at the COVID-19 checkpoint at the Phan Xích Long – Hoa Sứ intersection. According to Nhật’s account, he explained that he was going to withdraw cash to buy food, but was still written up and fined VND 1 million for going out without a legitimate reason. He then walked to the ATM, withdrew cash to pay the fine and went home without receiving a receipt for the fine.
• Explaining the incident, the chairman of the Ward 7 People’s Committee (Phú Nhuận District) said that when dealing with the working team, Nhật could not explain why he was out and was therefore fined. Only later, when he and his relatives posted the clip online, did the ward learn that he had gone out to buy food.
• However, the ward still maintained that his going to another district to withdraw cash and buy food was “not legitimate, practical or essential”, under Official Dispatch 2279 of the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) People’s Committee. According to them, he could perfectly well have bought food within his own ward, and could have bought it at supermarkets that accept card payments, with no need to withdraw cash.
• As for the failure to issue a receipt for the fine, the ward’s representative said they had arranged for Nhật to come and collect it, but he had not yet done so and the ward still had it.
• Speaking to Tuổi Trẻ, lawyer Nguyễn Huy Việt said that Ward 7 was wrong to fine Nhật, because under Official Dispatch 2279, people were still allowed to go out to buy food. The working team’s failure to issue a receipt for the fine to the offender was also wrong.
• The incident took place in the first days of social distancing and attracted public attention and discussion. Together with the fine for taking a cat to the vet, which happened at the same time, people began to notice many inadequacies in the rules on essential goods and services under social distancing.

Motorbike seized while going to buy bread (Khánh Hòa)

• On 19 July, social media was shaken by the statement “bread is not food”.

The incident originated from a video filmed on 18 July, recording the Vĩnh Hòa Ward working team stopping the motorbike of Trần Văn Em (a worker at a construction site in Vĩnh Hòa Ward, Nha Trang City, Khánh Hòa).

• In the video, Em explains that he went out to buy bread and drinking water, and presents a travel permit signed on 16 July by the contractor he is working for. However, the vice chairman of Vĩnh Hòa Ward holds that bread is not food and seizes his motorbike. The official repeatedly addresses the man with the demeaning “mày tao” forms of address. Notably, at the end of the clip, he threatens to make Em lose his job.
• The ward vice chairman posted the clip online himself for propaganda purposes. The video quickly became the centre of attention. Most people objected to his absurd statement and criticised his substandard conduct in the performance of official duties.
• On the evening of the same day, 19 July, the Khánh Hòa Department of Industry and Trade issued a document listing the groups of essential goods under social distancing, which stated clearly that food includes “starch (starch-based products)”.
• At the same time, on the evening of 19 July, the press reported that the male worker in the clip had been dismissed on the morning of 19 July. He said he had been temporarily laid off on the grounds that going out could spread the disease. This news further inflamed social media because it matched the threat made by the ward vice chairman in the clip.
• On the evening of 19 July, Khánh Hòa leaders said they had disciplined the ward vice chairman and removed him from charge of the pandemic control team (he was no longer allowed to go out on inspections).
• On the morning of 20 July, the Chairman of the Nha Trang City People’s Committee sent a letter of apology to citizen Trần Văn Em. In the letter, the city chairman acknowledged shortcomings in the implementation of Directive 16 and asked for the people’s understanding.
• On the same day, Văn Em said he had been allowed to return to work.

Fined for going to collect a box of vegetables sent by family (Ho Chi Minh City)

• On 21 July, on social media, a young man named P. (residing in Hóc Môn District) voiced his frustration at being written up and fined by police for going out when not necessary while on his way to collect a box of food sent up by his family in his home province. When checked, P. showed the text message from the coach company notifying him to collect the goods, but he was fined anyway.
• The same day, the Bàn Cờ Traffic Police Unit (HCMC Road – Rail Traffic Police Division – PC08) invited P. to bring all relevant documents to the unit’s headquarters to discuss the matter.
• The leadership of PC08 explained that, because the principle of “ward isolated from ward, district isolated from district” was being applied, “people should not leave their area, even to collect food or buy food”. This official said that people should be understanding and know the rules well so that everyone could get through the difficulties together.
• The incident quickly faded. At the time P. was fined, the press was reporting closed markets and overloaded supermarkets in HCMC, with people facing many difficulties buying goods.

Delivering a refrigerator, electronics store employee fined VND 2 million (HCMC)

• On the morning of 25 July, N. (Nhà Bè District, HCMC), an employee of an electronics store, was riding a motorbike carrying a refrigerator to deliver to a customer on Lê Lợi Street (District 1) when he was stopped for inspection by the District 1 Traffic and Public Order Police Unit.
• The traffic police unit wrote up a violation report and fined the electronics store employee VND 2 million, with the explanation that “a refrigerator is not an essential item; you could deliver it three or four months from now and it would be fine”.
• Reacting to the incident, many on Facebook argued that classifying refrigerators as non-essential goods was absurd, since the need for a refrigerator to store food is obvious when people have to stay at home. By this point, the social distancing order had lasted more than two weeks and had just been extended.
• The authorities did not respond to the incident.

Vehicles carrying sanitary pads and nappies not allowed through (Ho Chi Minh City)

• On 28 July, Diana Unicharm Joint Stock Company reported that its distributors and sales staff were being stopped by the authorities while transporting sanitary pads, diapers and nappies to retail outlets. The reason was that sanitary pads, diapers and nappies were not in the group of essential goods during the pandemic in HCMC and so could not be transported or circulated.
• At that time, nationwide, only Đồng Nai had included sanitary pads, diapers and nappies in its list of essential goods in an official document.
• Public opinion criticised the rigidity and absurdity of the authorities’ rules on essential goods. Experts said that if the issue was not resolved, shortages of these items could occur, leaving long-term consequences for the health of women and girls in particular and of the population in general.
• We did not record any further response from the authorities afterwards.

Unable to buy textbooks because they are not essential goods (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City)

• On 14 August, Tuổi Trẻ newspaper reported that many parents in localities under social distancing complained that they could not buy textbooks for their children, even though the new school year was about to begin. Textbooks were not on the list of essential goods and so faced difficulties in circulation and transport.
• On 18 August, the Authority of Publishing, Printing and Distribution proposed adding textbooks to the group of essential goods. The Ministry of Education and Training asked localities to facilitate the delivery of books to schools and students before the new school year.
• Only on 29 August did the HCMC authorities agree to treat textbooks as essential goods.
• On 16 September, after a month of tightened social distancing, HCMC allowed companies supplying school equipment and supplies to reopen.

2. Residents protest over undelivered relief

Social welfare was one of the most important pillars of the pandemic response policy, and at the same time one of the greatest sources of public anger during this period, especially in localities placed under prolonged social distancing orders such as Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Residents in many places gathered to take to the streets and marched to ward headquarters to question local leaders about this issue. Below are the cases for which we were able to collect evidence.

Note on copyright and authenticity: The videos recording these incidents were all filmed by residents and posted on social media; 6 of the 11 incidents were verified by the press. We have not been in a position to verify the incidents independently, but we have selected only cases that have been verified, or where the clip records residents describing their own circumstances. Luật Khoa downloaded these clips to its own archive to prevent the data from being deleted.

Nhà Bè District, 15 July

• On 15 July, residents of Alley 197, Hamlet 4, Phước Lập Commune, Nhà Bè District, HCMC were angry at not receiving relief. The clip shows the wife of the hamlet chief receiving support money.
• According to the residents speaking in the clip, most of the people renting rooms there who had lost their jobs were not on the list of recipients, while the hamlet chief said that only 9 people were eligible for relief.

District 7, 12 August

• On 12 August, dozens of residents of Tân Thuận Đông Ward, District 7, HCMC marched to the office of Residential Quarter 5 to demand their relief entitlements.
• The residents directly questioned the female group leader about why some people in the quarter had received the allowance twice, while many others had not received it even once.
• One woman said that although they all worked as traditional motorbike-taxi drivers, some had received it twice while others had not received it at all. She also said she had paid VND 100,000 to an official, calling it “coffee money”, but the official did not process her paperwork, while someone who paid VND 200,000 had received the money. (Video source: RFA)

Bình Tân District, 14 August

• On 14 August, residents marched to the office of Residential Quarter 11, Bình Hưng Hòa Ward, Bình Tân District, HCMC to voice their anger and demand clarification about the allowance. Residents said some people had received it three times while others had not received it at all.
• The quarter’s Party cell secretary tried to reassure the residents and said that their anger was entirely justified, but that the ward was only following orders from above.
• When pressed with the question “If you know the people are angry, why don’t you resolve it?”, the Party cell secretary was unable to answer and decided to close the door and stop receiving residents. (Video source: RFA)

Hóc Môn District, 18 August

• On 18 August, residents of Mỹ Hòa 1 Hamlet, Trung Chánh Commune, Hóc Môn District, HCMC complained that they had not received any allowance for three months, and so marched to the commune headquarters to demand their entitlements.
• Before that, they had gone back and forth many times between the hamlet office and the commune headquarters to ask about the relief money. The local police officer said residents had to ask the group leader about this, but when they asked the group leader, that person said they had to ask the higher level. (Video source: RFA)

Thuận An (Bình Dương), 24 August

• On 24 August, when Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam made an inspection visit to Bình Dương, many residents of the Thuận Giao residential area in Thuận An City hung “need help” signs in front of their homes to call for emergency food assistance. When asked, they said they had been unable to go to the market for four days, and that when they called the 1022 hotline no one picked up. The Bình Dương provincial Party secretary, who accompanied the delegation, promised to add 100 more staff to man the hotline.
• According to Tuổi Trẻ, immediately after the visit, support for residents in this area was sped up. Vũ Đức Đam asked the Bình Dương provincial leadership to make sure to support those who had hung signs asking for help, although he considered these to be only isolated cases.

District 8, 27 August

• On 27 August, residents of Ward 10, District 8, HCMC poured into the streets to express their anger at not receiving support. According to the person who filmed the clip, a community hall in Residential Quarter 3 regularly held large quantities of food and foodstuffs, but residents of the quarter did not receive any. The person filming also said that residents of this quarter could not buy food through the “shopping on behalf” scheme.
• One day after the clip was posted, the news site of the HCMC Party Committee spoke out to reject the residents’ accusations. The leadership of Ward 10 explained that the community hall in the clip was a site requisitioned to collect food for distribution to residents in turn.
• They said they had gone to the site to explain and urge residents not to gather, and were at the same time “approaching the residents involved and the person who filmed and spread the clip online in order to handle them in accordance with the law”.

Thủ Đức, 27 August

Also on 27 August, residents of Phú Hữu Ward, Thủ Đức City poured into the streets because they had not received relief money. The clip recording this scene spread widely on social media.

• Afterwards, the Thủ Đức City authorities announced that they had transferred support money to 111 households, VND 1.5 million each. When visiting the households, local leaders told residents to be “careful, calculating and frugal”.
• On 4 September, the Thủ Đức City Police opened criminal proceedings against a ward official of Phú Hữu who had added the names of many of his own relatives to the support list on his own initiative.

Bình Tân District, 8 September

On 8 September, the press reported that 140 households in Bình Hưng Hòa B Ward, Bình Tân District, HCMC had been given rice as support but made to sign for receipt of VND 1.5 million. Local leaders said this was “due to a technical error”.

Bình Tân District, 11 September

• On 11 September, a group of residents of Bình Tân District went to a government office to demand relief money. While the residents and district leaders held their dialogue, the gates of the government office were kept firmly shut.
• The residents stood outside the office gates, while the leaders stood inside, surrounded by a large number of police officers.
• The residents said they had waited nearly two hours there for the leaders’ explanation about the relief money. They considered the leaders’ explanation unsatisfactory.

Tân Phú District, 15 September

• On 15 September, a clip showing a man with his head covered in blood spread on social media. According to the information in the clip, the man had been beaten by the head of his residential group when he asked about relief money.
• According to verification by Zing, the incident took place in Tân Quý Ward, Tân Phú District, HCMC on the afternoon of 14 August. The Tân Quý Ward People’s Committee confirmed the incident.
• According to the report, Mr L. (the head of the residential group) and Mr M. (75 years old, the man who was beaten) had a dispute over allowance money. On the afternoon of 14 August, Mr L. “walked past Mr M.’s house carrying a brick. When Mr M. rushed out and hit him, Mr L. hit back”.
• Thanh Niên newspaper further reported that during the exchange of blows, “the brick in Mr L.’s hand struck Mr M.’s head, causing bleeding to the head.” Mr L. suffered no injuries.

District 8, 18 September

• On 18 September, residents of Ward 2, District 8, HCMC, angrily complained about shortcomings in the disbursement of allowance money that left them “going back and forth and returning empty-handed”.
• According to verification by Thanh Niên newspaper, there were cases of residents whose names appeared on the recipient list twice but who, after a month, had still not received the allowance. In another case, a father registered for support for all 6 members of his family, who were informal workers who had lost their jobs since the beginning of July; by mid-August he had died of COVID-19, and the allowance money was still nowhere to be seen. Only on 8 September did the head of the residential group come to announce that the deceased man was on the list of recipients along with 4 other people, but in the end the ward officials approved only 1 person to receive the money.
• In response to residents, the District 8 authorities said that in the disbursement process “there were shortcomings, but no profiteering”.

Residents call for help online

Beyond the specific incidents listed above, sites where residents posted calls for help, such as SOS map and Zalo Connect, also carried tens of thousands of urgent pleas from people who had received no support from the authorities, or insufficient support.

In the “People ask – The City answers” livestream programmes broadcast regularly from 24 August, residents continually raised questions about relief money and asked the city for help. According to the organisers’ statistics, by 28 August more than 1 million people had registered online to receive “welfare bags”.

Government representatives said that “this is a record-high figure”, reflecting the great interest of residents in the livestream programme. They did not acknowledge that this figure showed there was a problem with the capacity to implement the policy of supporting residents.

In the livestream programme on 10 September, the chairman of the Gò Vấp District People’s Committee said the district had completed 100% of the first relief package and 98% of the second relief package for households in difficulty. Online, a string of residents reacted furiously to this statement. They said the leader had given false information, because they themselves were among the households in difficulty in the district but had not yet received the allowance.

3. Abuse of power by pandemic-control forces

In the name of fighting the pandemic, many officials behaved in ways that caused public outrage.

Police storm the home of a vegetable seller and drag residents to the ward office (Ho Chi Minh City)

• On 13 July, in Tam Bình Ward, Thủ Đức City, cameras recorded the scene of a group of police and civil defence members armed with batons storming a family that was selling vegetables in front of their house. They confiscated all of the food, went straight inside shoving people, then dragged the occupants of the house onto a vehicle. One person in the house who resisted was sprayed with alcohol directly in the face. The clip was shared on the Facebook page of Phạm Minh Vũ, immediately spread widely and caused public outrage.
• According to information on Phạm Minh Vũ’s Facebook page, the family originally sold steamed buns but had temporarily closed under Directive 16. Seeing that their neighbours found it hard to buy vegetables while the family had a source of cheap vegetables, they brought them in to sell at home. At this time, the press was continually reporting that supermarkets were overloaded and prices were high, so many people could not buy food.
• On 14 July, the newspaper Công an Nhân dân published an article defending the law-enforcement forces, claiming that the information and images in the clip were “distorted” and “falsely cut and spliced”.

District authorities set quotas for fining residents (Ho Chi Minh City)

• On 13 July, a document said to be from the People’s Committee of Ward 6, Gò Vấp District, HCMC, on the assignment of pandemic prevention and control duties, spread on social media.According to it, during the two morning and afternoon shifts, the pandemic-control forces were to set up a fining checkpoint in front of the gate of the ward People’s Committee, with a quota of “20 cases to be fined per shift”. The document caused public outrage and raised concerns that officials would deliberately find fault in order to meet the quota.
• Responding to the newspaper Tuổi Trẻ, the chairman of Gò Vấp District did not deny the document. He said he had asked the ward to rectify the matter and explained that the district had only “asked the ward to step up patrols, inspections and fines for violators in accordance with regulations, and that no quotas were to be imposed”.

Police fire shots to stop workers from leaving (Bình Dương)

• On 29 July, RFA published a clip showing police firing two shots into the air in front of the gate of a factory in the Tân Bình industrial park, Bắc Tân Uyên, Bình Dương. The purpose of the shooting was to stop workers from leaving the industrial park.
• According to RFA, after a period of implementing the “three on-site” policy (that is, eating – sleeping – working at the company), the workers wanted to stop because many positive cases had appeared in the company.

Officials play golf during social distancing orders (Bình Định)

• On 4 August, the press reported that while tracing F0 cases, the People’s Committee of Bình Định Province discovered two officials who had gone to play golf while the province was under social distancing under Directive 15. The two were the director of the provincial Department of Tourism and a deputy director of the Tax Department.
• The same day, the two were suspended from duty. The Tax Department official explained that he had gone to play golf under an invitation letter for a field survey from the Bình Định Provincial Tourism Promotion Information Centre, signed and stamped by the centre’s director. On 24 August, the director of this centre was also suspended from duty.
• On 1 September, the leadership of Bình Định Province decided to impose disciplinary action in the form of a warning and dismissal from office on the director of the Department of Tourism. On 21 September, the deputy director of the Tax Department was also dismissed from office.

Officials go to view land during social distancing (Phú Yên)

• On 10 August, a patrol team handling COVID-19 prevention violations in Bình Kiến Commune, Tuy Hòa City, Phú Yên, found a car parked in the roadway. The car’s owner said he was “going to view land“, and was fined VND 2 million by the officials on duty for violating social distancing regulations. According to initial information, the woman accompanying him gave a false name and age when questioned.
• The two violators were the head of the Economic – Budget Committee of the Phú Yên Provincial People’s Council and a deputy chief of office of the Phú Yên Provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment. On 10 September, the two received disciplinary warnings.

Breaking down a door to take a resident to quarantine, prosecuting her for resisting (Nghệ An)

• On 23 August, in Diễn Châu Commune, Nghệ An Province, pandemic-control forces came to the house of a woman confirmed as an F1 contact to take her to centralised quarantine. When the woman locked the door and undressed in protest, the officials broke down the door and stormed the house, forcibly removed her and took her to quarantine in accordance with regulations.
• She explained that the reason was that “the family had just built the house, needed to stay to watch over it, and asked to be quarantined at home”.
• Explaining the forcible removal, the chairman of the Diễn Châu Commune People’s Committee gave the following reasons: (1) the woman’s house was basically finished, (2) she needed to be taken to centralised quarantine because at that time Nghệ An did not yet allow F1 contacts to quarantine at home, and (3) the forces had spent three hours trying to persuade her but she still resisted.
• On 30 August, the woman was prosecuted for investigation on the charge of resisting persons on official duty.

Leaders give vaccine priority to their relatives (Bình Định, Cần Thơ)

• On 26 August, the newspaper Tuổi Trẻ reported that residents of Mỹ Thành Commune, Phù Mỹ District, Bình Định Province, had discovered and denounced the commune chairman for having vaccinated his relatives who were not in the priority groups for vaccination. The commune authorities admitted this and claimed that it was “surplus vaccine” left over after vaccinating the elderly. On 10 September, the commune chairman was reprimanded.
• On 6 September, a young woman in Ninh Kiều District, Cần Thơ City, posted a certificate showing she had received two doses of Pfizer on social media and said she had been vaccinated thanks to “asking a big brother” who worked at the ward. The Ninh Kiều District authorities explained that she had been vaccinated because she was “the younger sibling of a cousin living near the house” of a ward official. As he took part in pandemic control, his relatives were also vaccinated. The public did not accept this explanation, since the woman had no direct contact with the “big brother” and so could not have been eligible for vaccination. On 11 September, the ward official was suspended from duty.

Locking the gates of 278 F2 households for quarantine (Thanh Hóa)

• On 28 August, after identifying 278 households in Hoằng Hóa District, Thanh Hóa Province, as F2 contacts, the commune authorities locked the gates of these families and handed the keys to the commune chairman to keep. According to the commune chairman, “locking the gates was aimed at achieving the best possible effectiveness in preventing COVID-19”. The authorities said this measure was necessary and “had the consensus and support” of the households and local residents.
• Responding to the newspaper Lao Động, Mr Lê Xuân Thu – Secretary of the District Party Committee and Head of the Hoằng Hóa District Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, said that this was a new approach, so differing opinions were hard to avoid. However, he explained that “everything is for the task of pandemic prevention and control, for the health of the people, and we are looking after the people”.
• By 3 September, the authorities stopped locking the gates of the households.

Carrying a resident who refused a COVID-19 test onto a vehicle (Cà Mau)

• On 3 September, RFA published a video clip showing a man in Cà Mau who refused a COVID-19 test being carried onto a vehicle by police and medical staff. The man shouted in resistance: “Did I rob or kill someone or what?”
• In the comments section on RFA’s YouTube channel, many people disagreed with the coercive conduct of the medical forces. They argued that residents had grounds to refuse testing out of concern that mass testing did not ensure hygiene.

Shouting at charity groups (Ho Chi Minh City)

• On 4 September, a clip was posted on social media of a man said to be the police chief of Tân Kiên Commune, Bình Chánh District, HCMC, shouting at two different charity groups over two days.
• The clip shows the police chief repeatedly shouting, demanding that the distribution of gifts stop on the grounds that the charity groups were operating without having asked permission from the local authorities, and demanding that the charity groups not film. The charity groups tried to engage in dialogue but the police chief kept brushing them off. He even told residents, “if you have no sense then just don’t eat”.

Breaking a lock and storming a home to force a resident to be tested (Bình Dương)

• On 28 September, a clip appeared online showing a group of people, including some in uniform, breaking the lock on the door of an apartment in a residential building. They then stormed into the home and dragged a woman outside while her son screamed and cried in fear. The woman was taken down to the courtyard of the building and restrained by the arms so that a test sample could be taken.
• The press verified that the incident took place at the E-home Bắc Sài Gòn apartment complex, Vĩnh Phú Ward, Thuận An City, Bình Dương Province, on 28 September. The clip was filmed by a member of the enforcement team and posted online. The ward Party secretary explained that the woman had repeatedly failed to come down for testing, so they were forced to compel her. The woman was written up in an administrative violation report for breaching pandemic prevention regulations.
• After the press, lawyers and the public strongly condemned the act as a violation of human rights, the ward Party secretary apologised, but the victim did not accept the apology. On 30 September, he was censured by the Thuận An City Party Committee.
• On 4 October, the victim of the forced testing was fined VND 2 million administratively for “failing to undergo testing at the request of the competent health authority in the course of infectious disease surveillance” under point a, clause 2, article 7 of Decree 117/2020. She said she would file a lawsuit against this decision.

Culling the dogs of a family fleeing the pandemic to their home province (Cà Mau)

On 7 October, a clip spread on social media showing a husband and wife carrying a pack of dogs on a motorbike on their way back to their home province.

• According to press verification, it was the family of Mr Phạm Minh Hùng (49), a bricklayer in Long An who had been out of work for four months because of the pandemic. Unable to hold out any longer, his family decided to ride their motorbike to his younger sibling’s home province of Cà Mau to escape the pandemic, bringing along a pack of 15 dogs, comprising 4 adults and 11 puppies. The younger sibling travelling with them brought 3 dogs and 1 cat.
• On arriving in Cà Mau on 8 October, his family was placed in a centralised quarantine facility, and then transferred to hospital for treatment after testing positive. The dogs and cat were also tested, and the results showed that one of them was positive for “some virus or other”, in the words of the chairman of the Trần Văn Thời District People’s Committee.
• On 10 October, the local authorities confirmed that they had culled all of the dogs and the cat out of fear of infection. The authorities explained that they had to do so because the owners did not ensure hygiene in the quarantine area, and because of “pressure from pandemic prevention and control work and from the local people”. According to them, the owner of the dogs “had no objection.”
• The decision to cull the dogs and cat caused outrage among the online community. The biggest reason was that scientifically, there is no evidence that dogs and cats can transmit the virus that causes COVID-19 to humans. Legally, there was no basis for carrying out the cull. On humanitarian grounds, these were the dogs that Mr Hùng said he “loved like his own children”.
• The local authorities admitted that those carrying out the task had been “somewhat hasty,” and promised to rectify the matter.
• The incident drew the attention of international media, including SCMP (Hong Kong).

4. Prosecuting ordinary people

During the outbreak, investigating agencies opened a string of criminal cases relating to the spreading of the disease. Many cases were investigated, prosecuted and tried at “super speed”; one case took only five days to reach the courtroom. The trials were also held under a summary procedure.

Criminalising the spreading of disease is a trend that has been opposed around the world. In Vietnam, against a backdrop of a complex and spreading epidemic, vague and constantly changing rules, and a public lacking information, the authorities issued many controversial decisions to prosecute. In some of these cases, people were sentenced to prison.

The following are the notable cases.

Three cases involving small traders who went to Bình Điền market

• On 15 July, the Đồng Xoài City Police, Bình Phước Province, opened a criminal case for the offence of spreading an infectious disease in connection with the first two F0 cases in the city. One of them traded in seafood at Đồng Xoài market and went in person to collect goods from the Bình Điền wholesale market in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) to resell to local small traders. The second had an epidemiological link to the Thủ Đức wholesale market.
  
  The police decided to open the case on the grounds that both had made incomplete health declarations, which meant the authorities could not apply prevention and control measures in time, allowing the disease to spread in a complex manner.

• On the same day, 15 July, the Cầu Ngang District Police, Trà Vinh Province, also opened a similar criminal case in connection with a small trader in Trà Vinh. According to the police, she and her husband went to collect seafood at Bình Điền market, but on returning to Trà Vinh did not make a health declaration. She was later found to be positive. Contact tracing identified 34 F1 cases, two of whom tested positive.
• On 30 July, the Long Mỹ Town Police, Hậu Giang Province, charged a 34-year-old woman as a defendant for the offence of spreading disease. The woman was pregnant.
  
  According to the police, she sold vegetables at Bình Điền market in HCMC. On 5 July, she returned to Hậu Giang. She made a health declaration twice and was required to self-isolate at home. On 9 July, when she went back to the health station for a rapid test, she was found to be positive for COVID-19. The police alleged that she had not complied with epidemic prevention and control measures and had infected 14 people.

Bạc Liêu: Pawn company operating in the middle of the epidemic

• On 25 August, the Bạc Liêu Police opened a criminal case involving the company F88 for “violating regulations on safety in crowded places”.
• According to the police, pawnbroking did not fall within the group of “necessary, essential” activities and was therefore not permitted to operate while Bạc Liêu was implementing Directive 16.

Three cases of spreading disease in Bắc Ninh

• On 29 August, the Bắc Ninh Provincial Police opened three criminal cases for the offence of spreading disease.
• First case: An employee at a Viettel Post branch went to a warehouse in Hanoi to collect goods. On returning to Bắc Ninh, he did not apply isolation measures and continued making deliveries.
• Second case: A married couple went to a place where there was an F0 case but did not make a health declaration. The couple then became infected and passed the disease on to two other people.
• Third case: A car driver picked up passengers from HCMC and drove through several provinces. He became infected and was prosecuted for spreading the disease.

Đồng Tháp: Case of spreading disease while holding a relative’s funeral

• On 28 August, the Hồng Ngự City Police, Đồng Tháp Province, announced that they had opened a criminal case for spreading disease while holding a relative’s funeral.
• According to the police, in early August, a relative of M.’s family suffering from cardiovascular disease had to be transferred to Chợ Rẫy Hospital (HCMC) for treatment, but the relative did not survive and died. M. was the person who went along to provide care.
• On 5 August, M. contacted the commune health station and expressed the wish to bring the relative home for burial. M. presented negative test certificates and was instructed to hold the burial in accordance with regulations.
• The commune health station then came to the house to spray disinfectant and handed M. a home-isolation order. When samples were taken, everyone in M.’s household and the adjacent households tested negative.
• On 6–7 August, M. held the relative’s burial on a plot of land 3 km from the house. During that time, M. invited some relatives and neighbours who had helped to a meal.
• On 14 August, the health sector carried out a second round of screening tests for residents of Bình Thành A and Bình Thành B hamlets and discovered a series of positive cases. By 25 August, M. had also tested positive. The authorities traced 88 F1 and 169 F2 contacts.
• While ordinary people were being prosecuted for holding a funeral, on 15 September, in the middle of Hanoi’s social distancing under Directive 16, the funeral of General Phùng Quang Thanh went ahead with full ceremony. Many images showed senior officials attending the send-off without complying with social distancing rules.

Nghệ An: Woman who refused to go into quarantine prosecuted

• On 29 August, the Diễn Châu District Police (Nghệ An) opened a criminal case and charged a woman as a defendant to clarify the act of resisting persons on official duty.
• Earlier, on the evening of 23 August, anti-epidemic forces had stormed into her house, breaking the door to take the woman into quarantine because she was classified as F1. She stripped off her own clothes in protest.

Vũng Tàu: Man who fled the epidemic from HCMC prosecuted

• Worried that someone in his boarding-house area was suspected of having COVID-19, at around 2 a.m. on 22 August, Mr G. (47) rode his motorbike to Vũng Tàu to escape the epidemic. He hung two loaves of bread on the bike as “camouflage”.
• Mr G. went to an acquaintance’s house and asked to stay. On learning of this, the head of the residential group came and asked him to go and make a health declaration. He went to make the declaration at noon that same day, then returned to the house to self-isolate. A day later (23 August), when he noticed signs of fever, he took a rapid test himself. Seeing a positive result, he notified the ward health station so he could be taken into centralised quarantine.
• On 26 August, Mr G.’s PCR test result came back positive. On 28 August, his acquaintance also tested positive.
• On 3 September, the Vũng Tàu City Police issued a decision to open a criminal case to investigate the offence of spreading disease. On 27 September, Mr G. was charged as a defendant and placed in pre-trial detention.

Cà Mau: Five-year prison sentence for spreading COVID-19

• On 6 September, the People’s Court of Cà Mau City, Cà Mau Province, sentenced Lê Văn Trí to five years in prison for the offence of spreading disease. According to the court, after losing his job because of the epidemic in HCMC, Trí returned to Cà Mau. After making a health declaration to the local authorities, he was required to self-isolate at home.
• The court concluded that he had not self-isolated at home as required and had spread the disease to many people, one of whom died.
• The case was reported by the international press.

Phú Yên: Criminal case opened over driver of an unlicensed ambulance

• On 7 September, the leadership of the Tuy Hòa City Police, Phú Yên Province, opened a criminal case for “spreading a dangerous infectious disease”. The person under investigation was a driver.
• According to the police, the driver drove a vehicle resembling an ambulance but without a licence to operate as one, transporting patients from Phú Yên Provincial General Hospital to several hospitals in HCMC. The driver later tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and infected four relatives.
• The Tuy Hòa City Police alleged that while travelling from the HCMC epidemic zone back to Phú Yên, he did not make a health declaration as required and had close contact with many people, showing signs of spreading the disease.

Cà Mau: Doctor prosecuted for “spreading disease”

• On 7 September, the Đầm Dơi District Police, Cà Mau Province, prosecuted a doctor for the offence of lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.
• According to the police, on 16 and 17 August, when examining an 11-year-old boy who was vomiting, the doctor did not screen for or investigate epidemiological factors relating to COVID-19. By the time the boy was found to be an F0 case, he had already infected many people.
• The case was opened for investigation in late August. The doctor was a member of the commune’s epidemic prevention and control steering committee.

Quảng Nam: Criminal case opened over refusal to be tested

• On 10 September, the Điện Bàn Town Police, Quảng Nam Province, opened a criminal case for spreading disease in connection with a vegetable trader at the Hòa Cường wholesale market, Đà Nẵng.
• According to information from the police, on 10 August, the woman travelled from the Đà Nẵng epidemic zone to her home in Quảng Nam but did not make a health declaration as required. When the authorities called for testing, she did not take part.
• On hearing that the vegetable seller next to her at the market had contracted COVID-19, she went to the hospital for a rapid test, which came back negative. She continued selling vegetables. By 17 September, she and her daughter were confirmed positive for COVID-19, with 15 F1 contacts linked to them.
• According to VnExpress, at least two other criminal cases were opened for the offence of spreading disease in August 2021.

5. State media blames the public

Throughout the fourth wave, many articles in state-owned newspapers sided squarely with the government’s position in order to accuse and blame the public.

A review of some notable cases:

VTV likens people who break social distancing rules to having an “animal brain”

• On 31 July, in a feature report on the theme “Fears of the Covid-19 season: From the ‘athletes’ to the fake news virus” broadcast on VTV1, presenter Sơn Lâm likened the brains of people who violated COVID-19 prevention and control rules to a “reptile brain” and an “animal brain”. Specifically, when referring to people in Hanoi who still went out to exercise even though this was banned under Directive 16, the programme explained that it was not because they were unafraid of the disease. The programme’s makers explained that these people were not thinking with the human part of their brain but had been taken over by the animal brain, the reptile brain.
• The clip sparked a major controversy. Many Facebookers pointed out in unison that Paul MacLean’s hypothesis of the reptile brain had been proven wrong. More seriously, VTV used a false theory to insult the public on national television, which many people were compelled to watch for daily updates on the COVID-19 pandemic.
• After the backlash, VTV quietly deleted the clip from its social media page. Presenter Sơn Lâm continued to appear in other news bulletins. Another VTV host, Trần Ngọc, even posted on Facebook in defence of Sơn Lâm and called the critics “dog-brained“.

Deliberately reporting falsehoods to incriminate the public

• On 3 August, the press reported on an incident in which a police officer died while chasing a person who had gone out on the street while the city was implementing Directive 16. Although the incident had only just occurred and the investigating agency had reached no conclusion, many outlets such as Tuổi Trẻ ran the headline “Young man kicks the front of a motorbike, causing a District 6 police officer to die in the line of duty during pandemic prevention”. Người Lao Động newspaper, meanwhile, reported cautiously on the incident.
• The same day, a clip taken from a resident’s security camera in the area nearby was circulated. The clip showed no evidence of the person “kicking the front of the motorbike” as reported by the press. The clip showed that when the police asked him to stop for a check on suspicion of violating social distancing, the man revved his engine and fled. The police officer gave chase, lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a house by the roadside, resulting in his death.
• Afterwards, Tuổi Trẻ and other newspapers changed their headlines but issued no correction or apology. The reports containing the detail “kicked the front of the motorbike” are still preserved on the sites that republished them.

A chorus of accusations that the public was “bombing orders”

• During the peak social distancing period in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) from 23 August, people living in the worst-hit areas were not allowed to go out to buy food, delivery drivers were not allowed to operate, and everyone had to depend on the “shop-on-your-behalf” teams.
• On 26 August, VnExpress reported that the teams shopping on residents’ behalf were being “bombed” by residents (placing orders but not accepting the goods). The report did not mention the name or address of anyone who had “bombed” an order. That evening, on the livestream “The People Ask – The City Answers”, a leader of the Ministry of Information and Communications also said that there were cases of residents “bombing orders”.
• On 28 August, Zing News reported that one ward had been “bombed” on 100 orders placed through the shop-on-your-behalf scheme. According to the report, many wards said that the orders were all combo packages rather than individual items, so at many times goods were in short supply and it was hard to match what residents wanted, so they declined to accept them. On the evening of 28 August, on the livestream programme “The People Ask – The City Answers”, a government representative again asserted that “order bombing” was occurring and named several wards where this was happening, along with a warning that it “would be dealt with strictly”. The livestream video is preserved here.
• On 6 September, the Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Public Security to take action against “order bombing”. On 7 September, Thanh Niên newspaper ran yet another article recounting how the shop-on-your-behalf teams were being “bombed”.
• The barrage of reports accusing residents of bombing orders, without any comment from the residents themselves, left the public outraged. Many argued that order bombing was not a widespread phenomenon, and that the reason for refusing goods could stem from incomplete deliveries. Nonetheless, the government and the press repeatedly described it as the result of residents’ lack of awareness, making life miserable for the shop-on-your-behalf teams.
• On 8 September, Lieutenant Colonel Lê Mạnh Hà, Deputy Head of the Staff Department of the HCMC Police, said that the authorities had found no cases of deliberately ordering and not accepting goods; the causes were mainly that residents were not familiar with the technology, deliveries arrived far too late, etc. Notably, when it first published this information, VnExpress used the headline: “No deliberate ‘bombing’ of shop-on-your-behalf orders detected”. The outlet later changed the headline to “Why many ‘shop-on-your-behalf’ orders went unclaimed”.
• The wave of accusations that residents were bombing orders stopped after this announcement by the HCMC Police. None of the newspapers that had previously reported on the “order bombing” phenomenon made any move to correct their reports.

Blaming patients in a field hospital in Bình Dương

• On 3 September, a video clip circulated on social media showing hundreds of F0 patients at the field hospital at the Thới Hòa site, Bến Cát town, Bình Dương, knocking down a barrier to grab breakfast. Officials admitted that the incident was real and explained that it was because a full list had not yet been drawn up of the newly transferred F0 patients, so meals could not be supplied in time.
• Even though the fault lay with the hospital’s organisation, the press still reported the story in a way that placed the blame entirely on patients’ lack of awareness and called for the public to be brought into line.
• Tuổi Trẻ newspaper published photos of the appetising meals at this quarantine facility, implying that the hospital had done a very good job and that the “needless chaos” that occurred was due to the attitude of a few individuals. The same day, Thanh Niên newspaper added a further report along the same victim-blaming lines, under the headline “Given enough food, F0 patients turn to breaking hospital doors to take supplies”.
• In these articles, the authors did not interview patients in the hospital, did not describe their living conditions, and did not look into why they had to do this. The articles also stated that the authorities would reinforce the mobile police to bring the quarantine facility into line.
• The Thới Hòa field hospital housed more than 12 thousand patients. Each patient had one iron bed, with no curtain, and was monitored around the clock. Patients reported shortages of electricity and water, and a lack of medicines and doctors to care for them.

Hiding the Chinese origin, praising the Hayat-Vax vaccine to cosmic heights

• On 10 September, newspapers reported that the Ministry of Health had conditionally approved the UAE’s Hayat-Vax vaccine, to meet the urgent need for pandemic prevention and control in Vietnam. The public was abuzz over an article praising “the Hayat-Vax vaccine as the very answer to the call of the universe”, published in the Công an Nhân dân newspaper on 18 August.
• However, what was remarkable was not only the excessive praise but the way the press verified and reported the origin of this vaccine. A string of newspapers, including VTV, reported that the vaccine was from the UAE. Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health’s website, the Hayat-Vax vaccine’s semi-finished product is manufactured by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd. under the China National Biotec Group (CNBG). This is a unit of the China National Pharmaceutical Group, Sinopharm. In other words, this is in fact Sinopharm’s Vero Cell vaccine, produced and packaged in the UAE. Hayat-Vax is merely another brand name for the same vaccine.
• The “call of the universe” article in the Công an Nhân dân newspaper was later taken down, but the newspapers made no move to correct the origin of this vaccine.

People had to hide in a truck container to get home; the press ran headlines “like a movie”

• On 13 September, the press reported on an incident in which Bình Thuận provincial police discovered 15 people, including children, hiding in the cargo box of a truck in order to return to their home province of Hà Tĩnh. All 15 people and the driver presented valid negative test certificates.
• The phenomenon of people leaving en masse on motorbikes for their home provinces, or finding every possible way to leave the big cities, was widespread during the fourth wave. They could not hold out, having lost their jobs and no longer being able to pay for rented rooms or buy food. Even so, the government did its utmost to stop them, out of fear that the disease would spread.
• Instead of treating the incident above as a tragedy, the press exploited it as a sensational event. Typically, Zing News ran the headline: “15 people hidden in a refrigerated container in a bid to slip through a quarantine checkpoint”. In the accompanying clip, the outlet even inserted dramatic background music. Tuổi Trẻ newspaper, for its part, exploited the sensationalism with the headline “Truck crams 15 people into a refrigerated container to get through a checkpoint, like a movie”.
• These articles reported only from police sources, without interviewing the people involved to understand their circumstances and their wishes.

6. Residents flee to their home provinces

When the fourth wave of COVID-19 broke out from June to September 2021, millions of workers in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) lost their jobs. They lived in cramped rented rooms, amid lockdown after lockdown, amid the fear of infection, the worry of having no income and of not receiving adequate support from the government. Many people resolved to travel hundreds of kilometres to return to their home provinces by many means. They walked, cycled, rode motorbikes, and even hid in the cargo compartments of trucks. Many met with accidents. Some died before they could reach home.

Compiled from: Tuổi Trẻ, Thanh Niên, Pháp Luật, Dân Trí, Vietnamnet, VTC, VnExpress, Báo Nghệ An.

Notable milestones

Selected cases (22)

July–August 2021

47 people walk from Khánh Hòa to Quảng Ngãi

On 11 July, 47 Hrê people working as hired labourers in Khánh Hòa decided to walk home to Ba Tơ District, Quảng Ngãi (about 350 km). Along the way, many elderly people looked as if they were about to faint. One person said “if they stayed they would have nothing to eat”. (Source: Thanh Niên)

A family cycles from Đồng Nai to Nghệ An

A family of four in Đồng Nai decided to cycle from Đồng Nai to Nghệ An (about 1,300 km) at the end of July 2021. When they reached Ninh Thuận province, they had been cycling for 10 days. Before the pandemic, the four members of this family rented a room in Đồng Nai and made a living as hired labourers. One family member said that because of the outbreak they had been unemployed for three months. According to them, with prices soaring, if they stayed they would run out of money for food as well. (Source: Báo Nghệ An)

A thousand people heading home, stuck at the boundary between Đà Nẵng and Huế

At the end of July, as many as a thousand people from the South rode motorbikes home to the central region. They carried whole families on old motorbikes piled with sacks of luggage containing food, blankets and mats… At the Hải Vân Pass, the convoy was held up because the province was organising health declarations. Many people, exhausted, lay on the bare ground. (Source: Tuổi Trẻ)

A bricklayer walks 1,000 km from Trà Vinh to Huế

Mr H.T (33) worked as a bricklayer in Trà Vinh. Having lost his job because of the pandemic, he decided to take a box of instant noodles and set out on a journey of more than 1,000 kilometres on foot to return to Thừa Thiên – Huế. As of 27 July, he had been walking for eight days, asking local people for boiling water to make his instant noodles as he went. (Source: Pháp Luật TP.HCM)

A couple walk from Hà Nội to their home province of Hoà Bình to mourn the wife’s mother

On 11 August, on hearing that the mother was dying, a couple working as hired labourers in Hà Nội looked for a way home to Hoà Bình. As there were no coaches, the two of them walked to a hospital to get tested and then continued walking home to Hòa Bình province.

September–October 2021

A boy hidden in a car boot to get home to Thái Bình

On 6 September, Hà Nội police discovered a driver who had hidden a 12-year-old boy in the boot of his car in order to get through the checkpoints and take the boy from Hà Nội to Thái Bình. The authorities said the driver had been paid VND 3 million to do this, the reason being to get the boy home in time for school. (Source: Thanh Niên)

15 people hide in a truck compartment to get home

On 13 September, Ninh Thuận provincial police announced that they had found 15 people (including children) hiding in the compartment of a refrigerated truck to get through a checkpoint. The driver said he had charged a fee of VND 700,000 per person. The press reported this story based on information from the police, without interviewing the 15 people about why they had decided to go home this way. (Source: Zing News)

Two men walk from Hà Nội to Yên Bái

Thào A Chú and Giàng A Vênh (both from Trạm Tấu District, Yên Bái) went to Hà Nội to work as bricklayers. Just 20 days in, the outbreak hit; they lost their jobs and were stranded at the construction site. With their money for food running out after two months, they decided to walk home. All they carried for the journey of nearly 200 km was bread and water. (Source: Tuổi Trẻ, reported on 14 September 2021)

500 people walk from Bình Dương to the Central Highlands and northern provinces

On the afternoon of 3 October, Bình Phước province said that more than 500 people were walking along provincial road ĐT. 741 through the province to return to the Central Highlands and the northern provinces. Most of those walking home were workers and freelance labourers living and working in Bình Dương. (Source: Thanh Niên)

28 people walk from Bình Dương to Nghệ An

On 5 October, the press reported that 28 Đan Lai people were walking from Bình Dương to Nghệ An even though they understood that the 1,400 km journey would be extremely arduous. They were all unemployed workers, worn down by the pandemic. (Source: VTC)

A family of four ride home on a motorbike with no seat

A Mà (from Nghệ An), together with his wife and two children, rode a motorbike from Bình Dương home to Nghệ An. His motorbike had no seat, only the bare frame, so they had to use three pillows as a cushion. His family had been unemployed for many months and had no money left to cover living costs, so they decided to go home. (Source: Zing News)

1,300 people brave the rain to cross the Hải Vân Pass on their way home

On 6 October, despite heavy rain, a convoy of some 1,300 people fleeing the southern provinces was still determined to ride their motorbikes over the Hải Vân Pass to get home. There were a great many children in this group.

Many voices called on the local authorities to open the Hải Vân Tunnel so that people could ride through the tunnel and avoid the dangerous mountain pass. It was not until 10 p.m. that day that the authorities decided to open the tunnel. (Source: Tuổi Trẻ, Vietnamnet)

An elderly man cycles from HCMC to Bến Tre

In early October, Lê Văn Chiến (75, from Giồng Trôm District, Bến Tre province) cycled from Nhà Bè District (HCMC) to Bến Tre, setting off at 6 a.m. All he carried was a bag and a dog. After more than four months without work, Mr Chiến had had to sell the two gold rings he kept for emergencies to buy food. (Source: Dân Trí)

Nearly 2,000 people walk home through Hà Nam province to escape the pandemic

According to the Ministry of Public Security, from 5 October to 10 October, 2,000 people (including 153 children) walked through Hà Nam province on their way home. During the same period, more than 26,000 people (mainly workers from the southern provinces) travelled along the Trường Sơn road and National Highway 1A to return home and escape the pandemic. (Source: Tuổi Trẻ)

94 people walk home from Long An

On 12 October, 94 people working at the Long Hậu Industrial Park in Long An province decided to walk home to the Central Highlands provinces. The reason was that they had been unemployed for many months and could no longer hold out. (Source: Tuổi Trẻ)

Accidents and deaths

Death while riding a motorbike from Bình Dương to their home province of Phú Thọ (29 July)

On 29 July, Mr X., together with his wife and two children, rode a motorbike from Bình Dương home to Lào Cai. When they reached Phú Thọ province, they were involved in a traffic accident. Mr X. died a week later. (Source: Tuổi Trẻ)

Family of four in an accident while riding a motorbike home (31 July)

Mr L.B.G, who was working in a southern province, decided to ride his motorbike with his wife and two small children home to Nghệ An to escape the pandemic. On 31 July, on reaching Đắk Lắk province, the family’s motorbike collided with another vehicle, leaving Mr G dead at the scene and his wife and two children seriously injured. (Source: Lao Động)

Mother and son die while riding a motorbike home (4 October)

On 4 October, Hà Thị Vuông (43) and her son Nguyễn Văn Thành (15) rode a motorbike from HCMC home to Quảng Nam. On reaching Quảng Nam, the motorbike collided with a truck, leaving mother and son dead.

Pregnant woman gives birth on the roadside while riding a motorbike home (8 October)

Thò Y Dũng (21), together with her husband Và Bá Sau (31) and their one-year-old child, rode a motorbike from Bù Đăng (Bình Phước) home to Nghệ An. Along the way, she went into labour and gave birth to a baby boy weighing 3 kg right on the verge of National Highway 1A. (Source: VnExpress)

One person killed in a traffic accident while riding a motorbike to Nghệ An (8 October)

In early October, two men riding together on one motorbike travelled from the South home to escape the pandemic. The two were travelling with a group of six motorbikes. On reaching Thăng Bình District, Quảng Nam province, their motorbike crashed into a truck parked at the roadside, leaving one dead and the other seriously injured. (Source: VnExpress)

Two Nghệ An workers killed and injured on the way home (8 October)

At 6 p.m. on 8 October, two workers from Nghệ An riding a motorbike home to escape the pandemic collided with a farm truck carrying acacia timber in Quảng Bình. One (aged 36) was killed, the other seriously injured. They were travelling with a group of Nghệ An workers returning home from the South. Many accidents occurred on this journey. (Source: Tuổi Trẻ, Báo Nghệ An)

A whole family on a three-wheeled cart heading home meets with an accident

On the evening of 31 July, Trường Xuân Sơn (46, from Nghệ An) drove a three-wheeled cart carrying his wife and three children from HCMC home to escape the pandemic. When they stopped at a checkpoint in Bình Thuận to make their health declarations, they were hit by a truck and dragged for dozens of metres. The 16-year-old son died at the scene; the four remaining family members were taken to hospital for emergency treatment. (Source: Báo Nghệ An)

7. Other notable issues covered in Luật Khoa’s reporting

Revoking the licences of doctors and nurses who quit: Entirely unlawful and wrong-headed

Pandemic discipline: Are the people ignorant or are the officials slack?

Why Viettel’s Vỏ Sò gets to run free while others are grounded

COVID-19 apps: When the Prime Minister likes having lots of apps

The army takes care of everything from A to Z, and the classic techniques of political propaganda

What VTV does not say: More than 5,000 people have died of COVID-19

Who does the shopping, who delivers the food? Three days of Ho Chi Minh City residents reeling from the authorities’ announcements

People are crying for help everywhere, so what is the government doing?

Vingroup, the super-“grandpa”, and the people who do not like fairness in Vietnam

Markets closed, every burden dumped on supermarkets, and people struggling to put food on the table

*To be updated