How will those who avoid medical quarantine to prevent and control Covid-19 be punished?

Strictly handle acts of avoiding medical quarantine

In fact, in Nghe An, there have been cases of people evading the application of medical isolation measures and being punished. Typically, at around 12:00 p.m. on June 13, 2021, after discovering that Mr. Le Van Th., born in 2000, residing in Dinh Cuong village (Dinh Son commune), who was being isolated to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic at Anh Son District Medical Center, had escaped from the isolation area, Anh Son Town Police proceeded to verify and search for the subject.

At around 12:45 p.m., the authorities worked with the relevant people and contacted Le Van Th., then he returned to the quarantine area to continue quarantine according to regulations.

Authorities work with Le Van Th. Photo: Thai Hien

During the process of working with the authorities, Le Van Th. admitted his above violations. In order to strictly handle cases of intentional violations of Covid-19 epidemic prevention measures and create a general deterrent and reminder for the community, on June 16, 2021, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Anh Son district issued a decision to administratively sanction Le Van Th. for the act of "Violating regulations onmedical isolation, forced medical isolation" with the amount of 5 million VND.

On April 1, 2020, the Prime Minister signedDecision 447/QD-TTgannounced the Covid-19 epidemic nationwide. Accordingly, it is clearly identified that Covid-19 is a group A infectious disease, with the risk at the level of a global pandemic.

Le Van Th.'s behavior violated Point b, Clause 1, Article 11 of Decree 117/2020/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions in the health sector. Specifically: A fine of VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 for the act of:

...b) TRefusing or evading the application of medical isolation measures or forced medical isolation by competent state agencies, except for the cases specified in Point b, Clause 2 of this Article;

Besides, according to point b, clause 2,Article 11 of Decree No. 117/2020/ND-CP stipulates that the fine will be applied from VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 for the act: "..b)Refusing or evading the application of medical isolation decisions or forced medical isolation by competent state agencies for people with group A infectious diseases, border medical quarantine subjects with group A infectious diseases, or when requested by competent state agencies.

In addition to being fined, people who escape from medical quarantine areas or avoid medical quarantine are also forced to continue to undergo medical quarantine according to Clause 3, Article 11 of Decree 117/2020/ND-CP. In cases of escaping from medical quarantine areas leading to serious consequences, they may also be prosecuted for criminal liability, specifically:

- If a person who has been notified of having the disease; a person suspected of having the disease or returning from an area with a Covid-19 epidemic has been quarantined and escapes from the quarantine area, causing the Covid-19 epidemic to spread to others, he/she will be prosecuted for criminal liability for the crime of spreading infectious diseases to people according to the provisions of Article 240 of the 2015 Penal Code.

- If a person has not been confirmed to have Covid-19 but lives in an area that has been quarantined or locked down and escapes from the quarantined or locked down area, causing damage of VND 100,000,000 or more due to costs incurred in disease prevention and control, he/she will be prosecuted for violating safety regulations in crowded places according to Article 295 of the 2015 Penal Code.

Strictly follow the quarantine instructions of the Department of Health

Faced with the complicated developments of the Covid 19 epidemic, with the reality of a large number of people under medical quarantine, Nghe An Department of Health recently issued Document No. 2479/SYT-NVY dated June 23, 2021 clearly guiding the quarantine of subjects returning from locked-down areas, implementing Directive 16, Directive 15. It clearly states:

- For cases returning from areas under medical isolation (lockdown) according to Decision No. 3968/QD-BYT dated September 16, 2020 of the Ministry of Health on promulgating "Guidelines for organizing medical isolation in areas with Covid-19 epidemic": Organize centralized isolation for at least 21 days from the date of leaving the medical isolation area and take samples according to regulations.

Guidance document of the Department of Health on quarantining people returning from epidemic areas. Photo: Thanh Chung

-For cases returning from areas in Nghe An province that are implementing social isolation according to Directive No. 16/CT-TTg dated March 31, 2020 of the Prime Minister on urgent measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 epidemic, it is required to declare health, verify, investigate information and implement epidemic prevention measures:

-For close contacts (F1), centralized isolation is required for at least 21 days from the date of contact with the Covid-19 patient; the remaining cases are isolated at home according to the instructions in Decision No. 879/QD-BYT dated March 12, 2020 of the Ministry of Health...

Nearly 1,000 Nghe An workers from Bac Giang were welcomed back to their hometown. Photo courtesy of Thanh Cuong

Currently, the number of people in medical quarantine in Nghe An is quite large, plus the province has just organized to welcome nearly 1,000 children of workers from Bac Giang back to their hometown. This is the number of workers in the first batch of more than 2,200 workers working in Bac Giang province that Nghe An province supported to bring back for quarantine.

Therefore, to ensure the health and safety of themselves and the community, all people, especially those under medical quarantine, need to raise awareness and strictly follow the instructions of the Department of Health to ensure epidemic prevention work.

Those who intentionally avoid medical isolation, causing the risk of spreading the disease to the community, will be strictly handled according to the provisions of the law.