Christian faithful wearing masks to prevent contacting coronavirus pray during
a service in Seoul, South Korea, February 23, 2020. Photo by Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji. 

Vietnam plans to keep a close eye on over 4,000 Vietnamese workers in two novel cororavirus-infected areas in South Korea - Deagu and Gyeongbuk. 

The Agency of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs sent a message Sunday to the Vietnamese overseas labour department in South Korea asking it to study the situation and check on Vietnamese workers in both areas in order to formulate prevention plans.

Tran Van Ha, head of media relations at the agency, said there were 48,000 Vietnamese workers in South Korea at the moment, of which 1,000 are in Deagu City and 3,000 in Gyeongbuk Province.

"We haven’t recorded any Covid-19 infection among Vietnamese workers in South Korea so far," Ha said.

The agency has also requested the Vietnam Labor Management Office under the Employment Permit System Program (EPS) and related enterprises to keep workers regularly informed about the epidemic and report cases of those working without a permit on relevant forums.

A warning notification about the coronavirus sent to Vietnamese workers
in South Korea. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Hanh.

Regarding freshly recruited workers set to leave for Korea and Japan in April and May, the Agency of Overseas Labour has requested employers to postpone it until the epidemic situation shows some positive changes.

The Immigration Department under the South Korean Justice Ministry has announced that foreigners with Covid-19 can get medical examination and treatment without fear of prosecution and deportation.

South Korea recorded 123 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday, bringing the total number to 556, of whom four have died.

The global death toll of the Covid-19 outbreak had reached more than 2,400 as of Sunday morning and infections topped over 78,000, mainly in China.