Plastic enterprises suggest isolating F0 cases at work

Plastic enterprises are facing several difficulties amid the pandemic

According to the VPA, more than half of the plastic businesses have had to close or produce with low capacities, resulting in an inability to fulfil orders, delayed deliveries, and cancelled orders. It is forecast that the situation in the last months of this year will be extremely difficult for these businesses.

Ho Duc Lam, chairman of the VPA, said that the plastic industry has about 3,000 businesses with more than 300,000 employees across the country, of which 70 per cent operate in Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Long An, and Tay Ninh. The complicated pandemic has caused many of them to fall into chaos.

Faced with this situation, the VPA has sent a document to the prime minister and ministries to consider debt extensions, tax reductions, and to isolate F0 cases directly at their workplaces.

In order to ensure production, the VPA recommended that if F0 cases are detected in an enterprise, the case will be actively handled right at the workplace. The factory shall then be disinfected according to the instructions of the Ministry of Health.

F0s will be put in an isolated place in the factory for tracking and monitoring according to the same instructions for the isolation of F0 cases at home. If these patients are getting better, they can still work as long as they do not come into contact with people who have not been infected.

For F1 cases, PCR testing is required. The F1s working in the same department with F0s will continue to work there after three days of disinfection. Patients categorised as F1s will be managed according to the same guidelines as the isolation of F1s at home.

The medical team will monitor the situation of all patients and update the situation to the health agency, similar to the instructions for taking care of COVID-19 patients at home.

Besides this, the VPA also proposed to the government to extend short- and long-term loans for businesses in the next six months, while further reducing lending interest rates by 2-3 per cent for businesses severely affected by the pandemic. Moreover, the association suggested reducing land tax in 2021 and delaying tax and social insurance payments in the next six months to help businesses with their cash flow for production and business activities.

In addition, the VPA suggested that shipping lines extend the storage time paralleling the container storage time of 14-21 days to avoid additional costs.

Laslty, the VPA proposed that the Ministry of Health agrees on one type of test paper with a fixed validity period. At the same time, the ministry shall abolish the provision of QR codes when travelling through anti-pandemic checkpoints.