The Government classified Covid-19 as “Group A infectious disease, a global emergency”; a lack of awareness and responsibility in medical declarations may result in serious consequences. These individuals should be condemned and take full responsibility for their fraudulent and dishonest acts. Currently, the law has specific provisions on prohibited acts in the prevention and control of infectious diseases as well as sanctions against acts of spreading dangerous infectious diseases to others. Specifically as follows:
According to Article 8 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases 2007, the following acts are strictly prohibited:
“1. Intentionally transmitting agents of infectious disease.
2. Persons suffering from an infectious disease, persons suspected of suffering from an infectious disease and pathogen carriers are prohibited from performing jobs likely to transmit agents of infectious disease as prescribed by law.
3. Concealing and failing to report or reporting not in a timely manner case of contracting infectious diseases in accordance with law.
4. Intentionally declaring or reporting untrue information on infectious diseases.
5. Discriminating against and publishing negative images of and information on persons suffering from an infectious disease.
6. Failing to apply or applying not in a timely manner measure for preventing and controlling infectious diseases as prescribed by this Law.
7. Failing to comply with measures for preventing and controlling infectious diseases at the request of competent agencies and organizations.”
The fact that someone provides false or little medical report, disobeys the regulations on isolation or knows that they have been infected with Covid-19 but do not report and still make physical contact with others, causing the disease to spread widely, maybe administratively sanctioned or handle criminal liability, depending on the seriousness of the acts.
Regarding penalties for administrative violations against medical laws, Decree No.176/2013/ND-CP has specific provisions as follows:
1. The failure to report sufferers of group A diseases shall be liable to a warning or a fine of from 200,000 VND to 500,000 VND.
2. One of the following violations shall be liable to a fine of from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND:
a) Concealment of the development of group A diseases of oneself or of other people;
b) Failure to take the test for group A diseases at the request of a competent authority.
(Article 6)
3. Any of the following violations shall carry a fine of from 5,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND:
a) Failure to keep sufferers of group A diseases in isolation;
b) Refusing to or avoiding keeping sufferers of group A diseases, the subjects in quarantine that carry group A diseases or pathogens of group A diseases.
(Article 10)
On a serious note, the act of spreading the Covid-19 pandemic to others may be prosecuted for “Crime of spreading dangerous infectious diseases to human” as prescribed in Article 240 of the Criminal Code in 2015, amended and supplemented in 2017. Accordingly, the above acts may be subject to a maximum fine of VND 200 million or a sentence of 01 to 12 years of imprisonment depending on the consequences of the acts of people who have been and will cause. Specifically:
“1. Those who commit one of the following acts, spreading dangerous infectious epidemics to humans, shall be imposed a fine of between VND 50,000,000 and VND 200,000,000 or a prison term of 01 to 05 years:
a) Releasing or permitting the removal of an epidemic area of animals, plants, animal products, plants or other items capable of spreading dangerous diseases to humans, unless otherwise prescribed by law;
b) Bringing into or permitting to bring into Vietnam territory, infected animals, plants or animal and plant products or carrying dangerous pathogens capable of being transmitted to humans;
c) Other acts of spreading dangerous epidemics to people.
2. Committing the crime in one of the following circumstances, the offenders shall be sentenced to between 5 and 10 years of imprisonment:
a) Result in an epidemic declaration under the authority of the President of the provincial People’s Committee or Minister of Health;
b) Causing the death of a person.
3. Committing the crime in one of the following circumstances, the offenders shall be sentenced to between 10 and 12 years of imprisonment:
a) Resulting in epidemics falling under the Prime Minister’s jurisdiction;
b) Causing 02 or more deaths.
4. Offenders may also be imposed a fine of between VND 20.000.000 and VND 100.000.000, banned from holding certain posts, practising certain occupations or doing certain jobs for between 01 and 05 years.”
However, according to the Ministry of Public Security, Article 240 of the Criminal Code did not provide detailed regulations for people suffering from infectious diseases, carriers of infectious diseases and people suspected of suffering from infectious diseases that commit acts of spreading infectious epidemics for humans and other cases involving human acts.
Therefore, in order to have a sufficient and detailed basis for criminal handling of people who commit such acts to spread infectious diseases to humans, the competent authorities should issue specific guidelines implementing Article 240 of the Criminal Code 2015.
The Vietnamese Legal Regulations on the issue of not reporting, making untrue statements, not complying with isolation during the Covid-19 epidemic is also a common trend in many other countries in the world.
Facing the complicated situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, governments of many countries such as China, South Korea, Singapore, Russia, Italy … have issued strict regulations from administrative sanctions to imprisonment for individuals who violate regulations on isolation and quarantine.
In China – the world’s first pandemic centre, on February 6th 2020, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Procuracy, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice issued legal documents guiding the application of the law to sanction violations of the prevention of Covid-19. According to the instructions, anyone who has been infected or suspected of being infected with Covid-19 but refuses to isolate, or leaves, and goes to public places, shall be sentenced up to 10 years in prison for endangering public safety crime. In addition, those who do not comply with the prevention measures that spread the disease or are at high risk of spreading shall be punished for the crime of Preventing the prevention of infectious diseases with the highest penalty up to 07 years in prison. If the entity is an organization, the penalty is a fine. However, the direct manager is also responsible individually[1].
Due to the uncontrolled outbreak of Covid-19, the “super spreader” No. 31, on February 26th the South Korean National Assembly passed laws to fight the outbreak. Accordingly, patients who intentionally violate the isolation order shall be sentenced to a prison term of up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won (approximately 8.300 USD)[2].
In Singapore, anyone who violates the country’s infectious disease law can be fined up to SGD 10,000 or six months in prison whether it is the first violation or not. The Ministry of Health of Singapore reminded the public that under this law, anyone who conceals or provides inaccurate information about travel history is guilty of the crime[3]. In addition, recently, the Singapore Immigration Control Agency (ICA) has announced that it will revoke the long-term residence card and ban entry for those who do not implement the isolation order at home, such as the 45-year-old man case who was sent a notice of quarantine because he had previously been to China but did not comply[4].
According to news from the Vietnam News Agency, the Government of Moscow has stipulated new rules that who return from China, Korea, Iran, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other countries having signs of infection should be isolated at home within 14 days. Those who fail to comply shall be sentenced up to 5 years of imprisonment.
In Australia, there are different penalties for violating the isolation order according to the states. New South Wales fined AUD 5,500 for failing to comply with health regulations, rising to AUD 11,000 and six months in prison for providing untrue information to avoid medical regulations. Queensland may impose an administrative fine of up to AUD 13,345. The State of South Australia can punish people who violate medical requirements up to AUD 25,000. Western Australia punishes behaviours that have serious consequences on public health up to AUD 50,000 or up to 01 year in prison[5].
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According to Penfield’s evaluation, Vietnam administrative sanctions under Article 10 of Decree No. 176/2013/ND-CP is equivalent to about 7.4 – 15% of the average income of employees in a year (according to VnExpress, The average income of Vietnamese workers in 2019 is $ 2,904/year), whereas, if prosecuted, the fine frame is quite high, the minimum fine is equivalent to about 70% of the average income of Vietnamese workers.
Compared with other countries, the penalties of other countries fluctuate at lower levels, for example, Australia fined from 13.4% to 60% of average income, South Korea is equivalent to about 26%. On average, Singapore fined an amount equivalent to about 18% of the 2019 average income of the workers.
From our perspective, this penalty is appropriate and necessary because it ensures deterrence and respect for the law, in general, the deterrence is preventive, overpowering the possibility of violations and specifically, the deterrents are practical impacts on violators, to avoid recurring misconduct. However, when deciding to apply sanctions to specific individuals, competent authorities shall also consider and make appropriate decisions, ensure the objectivity, fairness and respect for the law.
In Vietnam, dishonest behaviour when doing the medical report of Patient No. 17 in Hanoi, patient 34 “super-spreader” in Binh Thuan, or the case of 5 family members of patient No. 35 escaped in isolation areas in Hai Chau district, Da Nang city, along with many other opposition cases, making excessive demands when being isolated have made the social community extremely pressing. We have not yet applied sanctions for these acts; however, in the coming time, it is certain that the authorities will take strong actions against the opposition, ensuring deterrence and avoiding causing more serious consequences.
[1] Quốc Đạt (2020), Trốn cách ly sẽ bị phạt tù ở Trung Quốc, <https://vnexpress.net/phap-luat/tron-cach-ly-se-bi-phat-tu-o-trung-quoc-4066766.html>, truy cập ngày 24/03/2020;
[2] Đinh Phạm (2020), Hàn Quốc phạt tù, Singapore tước thẻ cư trú người trốn cách ly, <https://news.zing.vn/han-quoc-phat-tu-singapore-tuoc-the-cu-tru-nguoi-tron-cach-ly-post1056648.html>, truy cập ngày 24/03/2020;
[3] Bảo Anh (2020), <https://tuoitre.vn/neu-lam-lay-lan-dich-benh-se-bi-xu-ly-hinh-su-20200308094359999.htm>, truy cập ngày 24/03/2020;
[4] Đinh Phạm (2020), Hàn Quốc phạt tù, Singapore tước thẻ cư trú người trốn cách ly, <https://news.zing.vn/han-quoc-phat-tu-singapore-tuoc-the-cu-tru-nguoi-tron-cach-ly-post1056648.html>, truy cập ngày 24/03/2020;
[5] Hồng Vân (2020), Úc: Vi phạm yêu cầu tự cách ly sẽ bị phạt 50.000 đôla, <https://tuoitre.vn/uc-vi-pham-yeu-cau-tu-cach-ly-se-bi-phat-50-000-dola-20200316070842427.htm>, truy cập ngày 24/03/2020;