VinMart stores to close amid growing coronavirus threat
VinMart stores to close amid growing coronavirus threat
VinMart is set to close some of its stores temporarily until the new coronavirus epidemic situation improves.
A VinMart employee sprays hand sanitizer on a customer's hands in a supermarket in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Kim Ngan.
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A spokesperson for VinCommerce, a subsidiary of giant group Masan, said on Wednesday that VinMart supermarkets and VinMart+ convenience stores in neighborhoods that have been locked would close until the situation comes under control.
The announcement by the operator of Vietnam’s largest retail chain -- with 3,200 outlets -- came after an employee of electronics retail chain Dien May Xanh in Da Nang was found infected with the novel coronavirus.
She is believed to have contracted the virus from two infected British customers who came to Vietnam on March 2.
Mobile World, the owner of the chain, has shut the store and told its employees to isolate themselves at home.
Other retail chains like Big C and Lotte have said they will provide masks, gloves and hand sanitizers to employees and customers.
In the last six days 23 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus infection in Vietnam, taking the total number so far to 39. The other 16 were discharged weeks ago.
