Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has asked People’s Committees of centrally-run cities and provinces to take stronger border control measures in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Trucks carrying exported goods get stuck at Lang Son's border gates (Source: VNA)

The Vietnamese Embassy in China on April 3 sent a notice to ministries, agencies and People’s Committees in northern provinces informing them about China’s decision to tighten and restrict entry at the border between the two countries.

China’s Guangxi province has also recently announced that it will intensify the management of passengers and vehicles passing through border gates between Vietnam’s Lang Son province and the locality to contain the pandemic.

Statistics reveal that as of April 8, about 1,698 trucks and a train, mainly carrying farm produce, were stuck at the northern border.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is coordinating with relevant ministries and agencies and border provinces to work with the Chinese side in order to ensure the flow of goods while observing COVID-19 countermeasures.

The ministry urged competent local agencies to keep abreast of the situation and step up information dissemination for farming households and production and business facilities.

Goods must be exported to China via official channels, it said, asking provinces to strictly follow regulations on product origin and other standards agreed by the two sides.

The ministry also ordered further observance to instructions on COVID-19 prevention and control at border gates, saying the work should not be played down just to disperse the stranded passengers and vehicles.