Covid-19 Update

Published on 9/16/2021 - Issue Q3/2021

Back in April 2021, Vietnam entered the fourth wave of Covid outbreaks in the country, featuring the more transmissible delta variant. Following an outbreak in a number of North-Vietnamese Provinces, currently Ho Chi Minh City and a number of southern provinces are hit worst, which resulted in strict lock downs and general stay at home orders disrupting daily lives and business operations.

While the outbreak is still developing in a complex and unpredictable manner, it is encouraging that Vietnam's vaccination campaign is making good progress in cities and particularly badly affected outbreak areas, such as Ho Chi Minh City which managed to vaccinate over 70 percent of its adult population with at least one dose of a vaccine by the end of August 2021.

In addition, the government announced an economic relief package to soften the impact of the lock-down measures for companies, employees and citizens. Some of the measures include:

• reduced employer contribution rate of 0 percent to the insurance fund of occupational accident and disease;
• certain employers and employees may suspend their contributions to the pension, retirement and survivorship fund for six months;
• employers may also benefit from financial support for training of their employees;
• employees forced to take unpaid leave or who are subject to temporary suspension of their labor contracts due to the pandemic are entitled to a one-time support, the amount depending on the duration of the unpaid leave or suspension; and
• one-time payments will also be disbursed to employees unable to work due to quarantine orders or being subject to a local lock down.

In addition to the assistances provided by the central and provincial governments, many banks have voluntarily reduced interest rates on new and existing financings offered to businesses.