According to recent reports, the silicon manufacturing giant Intel has reportedly spent about 140 billion dongs ($6.1 million) in just one month. This amount was spent by the company to meet strict Vietnamese anti-virus mandates for factories in Ho Chi Minh City to ensure it can keep operations going.
The total cost was invested in offering sleeping accommodations for workers, the company’s facility in Vietnam had to cover the costs of hotel rooms and daily virus tests for thousands of workers, including its employees and those of its suppliers.
Ho Chi Minh City, the place which has become the epicentre of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreak, and intel’s authorities in other regions have ordered suppliers for global brands to meet tough anti-virus measures or to temporarily shut down their operations.
The ongoing COVID mandatory restrictions are affecting the factories that make everything from sneakers to smartphones and underscore the challenge faced by the government. The country’s government is struggling to protect the export-dependent economy during the sudden virus outbreak.
“The costs have affected Intel’s budget plan. It will impact our production plan if it continues like this.”
Intel has a test and assembly plant in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park and is reportedly asking the city government to allow the employees who test negative for the virus and live in areas of the city which are considered safe zones by health experts to commute to work from home in transportation which the company is offering to provide.
The chipmaker is also requesting the local government provide a second vaccine dose to its Ho Chi Minh City employees after providing them with their first shot of the vaccines. The company is investing heavily towards the safety of its employees and suppliers and has paid to house 1,870 of its workers in four- and five-star hotels along with providing them with bonuses and has also offered some rooms in less expensive hotels for 1,500 employees of its suppliers.
In the country of Vietnam, less than 2% of its 98 million population have been fully vaccinated as of Aug. 18.
