On April 27 when a new Covid-19 wave hit Vietnam, the nation had gone over a month without community transmissions. As a result, the neglect of Health Ministry protocols to prevent Covid-19 set in, PM Chinh told a meeting Wednesday.

Several hotspots have developed as a direct result of such neglect, either by healthcare authorities, for failing to tighten management at quarantine facilities, or by local people, for failing to report themselves as Covid-19 threats.

"This wave has developed unpredictably since patients carry coronavirus strains that are more dangerous and spread faster than previous ones."

"Especially, infections have spread among workers at industrial parks that gather thousands of people while we do not have much experience in dealing with such clusters," Chinh said.

Northern Bac Giang Province has had to shut down four of its industrial parks to curb infection while its neighbor Bac Ninh has registered cases in three different parks. The two provinces, home to major foreign operation plants such as Foxconn, Samsung and Canon, are the worst hit localities in the new wave.

He demanded that related agencies learn from their own mistakes and avoid at all cost the situation in which they let their guard down in the absence of community transmissions.

More than three weeks into the new wave, Vietnam has recorded 1,722 local cases in 30 cities and provinces. Of those patients, four have died.