Hanoi-Vietnam: From March 16, 2020, any person failing to wear a facemask against Covid-19 may face fines

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Regarding this matter raised by Ms. Ngoc, the Editorial Board of Lawnet would like to provide the following explanation:

Firstly, the information that everyone must wear facemasks in public places from March 16, 2020 is completely accurate.

According to Notice 98/TB-VPCP dated March 14, 2020 issued by the Government Office of Vietnam regarding the conclusion of Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the regular Government meeting on Covid-19 prevention and control, one of the key directives of the Prime Minister of Vietnam is:

From March 16, 2020, strictly enforce the wearing of facemasks in crowded public places (such as supermarkets, airports, train stations, bus stations, on public transportation...).

Additionally, to effectively implement this directive, the Prime Minister of Vietnam of Vietnam also assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Health to ensure the production and supply of quality facemasks to meet public demand.

The Ministry of Transport must ensure that airlines distribute free facemasks to passengers who do not have one, including international passengers entering Vietnam, and require passengers to wear facemasks throughout the flight and in terminals.

Officially from March 16, 2020, wearing facemasks in crowded places such as supermarkets, airports, train stations, bus stations, on public transportation, etc., will be strictly enforced, and all citizens have the responsibility to adhere to this directive to prevent and control the spread of Covid-19.

Secondly, from March 16, 2020, any person failing to wear facemasks under this directive of the Prime Minister of Vietnam may face fines.

According to Article 8 of the Law on Preventing and Controlling Infectious Diseases 2007, one of the prohibited acts in preventing and controlling infectious diseases is “not complying with the measures for preventing and controlling infectious diseases as required by the competent authority.” In this case, citizens failing to adhere to the directive on wearing facemasks in public and crowded places to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as stipulated by the Prime Minister of Vietnam constitutes a prohibited act and therefore will be subject to legal sanctions.

According to Point a, Clause 1, Article 11 of Decree 176/2013/ND-CP, depending on the severity, this act can be subject to a warning or a fine ranging from 100,000 VND to 300,000 VND:

Article 11. Violations of regulations on implementing epidemic prevention measures

1. Warning or a fine from 100,000 VND to 300,000 VND for one of the following acts::

a) Failure to implement personal protective measures for those participating in epidemic prevention and those at risk of contracting the epidemic as guided by health authorities;*

…

Additionally, Decree 176 also stipulates fines for other violations in disease prevention and control:

- A fine from 1,000,000 VND to 2,000,000 VND for concealing one's own or others' infectious disease status when the disease has been declared an epidemic;

- A fine from 2,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND for not participating in epidemic prevention as per mobilization decisions from the Epidemic Prevention Steering Committee;

- A fine from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND for not implementing decisions on measures to restrict mass gatherings or temporarily suspend business, services in public places;

- A fine from 20,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND for not implementing decisions to ban mass gatherings in areas declared to be under epidemic emergency.

Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic is continuing to spread in many countries worldwide. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on the afternoon of March 11, 2020 (late evening the same day, Vietnam time). Given the complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, every citizen needs to heighten their awareness of self-protection health measures and strictly follow medical recommendations and directives from authorized agencies and organizations to protect themselves and the community and avoid legal consequences.

Nguyen Trinh

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