Vietnam Man Jailed For 5 Years For Spreading COVID After Breaking Quarantine

A 28-year-old Vietnam man was sentenced to five years in jail after he was found guilty of spreading the coronavirus to eight people after he broke quarantine.

The man, Le Van Tri, was found guilty by a court of “transmitting dangerous infectious diseases,” in early July when traveled by motorcycle from Ho Chi Minh City to his home province in Ca Mau, which is located in the south of Vietnam, the BBC reported.

Tri was accused of lying on his health declaration form about his travel history and failure to comply with quarantining rules, which require anyone traveling from outside provinces into Ca Mau to immediately isolate for 21 days, the news outlet said.

According to the BBC, Tri later tested positive for COVID-19 and transmitted the virus to family members and staff at a welfare center, which he visited. One person eventually died from the virus. He was sentenced to jail by the court after a one-day trial and fined £ 630 ($880).

Vietnam has used tight restrictions to keep COVID-19 out of the country with relative success until infections spiked in June with the onset of the Delta variant. The country has reported more than 530,000 virus cases with more than 13,300 COVID-19 deaths, with many occurring in the last few months, data from Johns Hopkins University indicated.

Ca Mau has reported 191 cases of the virus and two deaths since the pandemic began, while Ho Chi Minh City has had nearly 260,000 cases and 10,685 deaths from COVID-19, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, two other people have been sentenced to jail time in Vietnam for spreading the coronavirus. The sentences were 18-month and two-year suspended jail terms on the same charges, the news outlet said.