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| Female workers from Bac Giang and Bac Ninh receive financial aid from the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam – PHOTO: COURTESY OF NEW ZEALAND EMBASSY |
Early this week, New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Tredene Dobson joined a ceremony to hand over the financial package to 420 female workers from factories in the northern provinces of Bac Giang and Bac Ninh, which have been hit the hardest by the fourth Covid-19 wave beginning in late April.
The workers, whose jobs and incomes have been severely affected by the recent outbreak, received VND1 million in cash each to help cover some of their immediate needs.
“This project demonstrates the strong partnership between New Zealand and Vietnam. It is a practical initiative to help ease the economic impacts of Covid-19 on the workers and their families,” Dobson said at the handover ceremony.
“I am proud to say that through the Head of Embassy’s Fund, we have been able to support around 3,000 women throughout Vietnam impacted by Covid-19 in the last 12 months,” she added.
Among all cities and provinces nationwide, Bac Giang and Bac Ninh have reported the largest and third highest number of infections, respectively, in the fourth Covid-19 wave. The two provinces are home to many industrial parks and export processing zones, which are at high risk of infection.
In mid-May, Bac Giang had to temporarily shut down four industrial zones comprising Dinh Tram, Quang Chau, Van Trung and Song Khe-Noi Hoang in Viet Yen District to curb the spread of the pandemic.
