Many HCMC workers to stay back for Tet holiday

So far, more than 420,000 migrant workers have decided to stay back in HCMC, reducing the usual rush back home as the Lunar New Year nears.

The number of workers registering to stay back has increases by more than 30 percent year-on-year, or by 130,000, Nguyen Thanh Do, head of the Policy and Law Department under the HCMC Labor Confederation, said Wednesday.

In most cases, workers have said the latest Covid-19 outbreak in HCMC has seriously affected their income with factories suspending operations for months following social distancing regulations.

They also fear that the pandemic could continue to develop in complicated fashion and they are worried about quarantine policies in their hometowns.

For now, several provinces including Thanh Hoa and Thai Binh require all returnees to isolate themselves at home for seven days.

HCMC has more than 1.5 million factory workers and almost half of them are migrants.

According to the municipal Labor Confederation, the Tet bonus for workers in the city this year will drop by 30 percent on average compared to last year due to the adverse impacts of Covid-19.

In the latest wave that hit Vietnam last April, HCMC was the epicenter. The city went through various levels of social distancing measures for four months between May and September last year.

The city labor union federation has said it will spend VND700 billion ($30.8 million) to support workers who do not return home for Tet, the biggest holiday of Vietnamese people. Usually the festival sees millions return to their hometowns to reunite with loved ones and observe important traditional rituals.