A ceremony of religious followers (Photo: VNA) As of June1 evening, 219 cases of COVID-19 linked with the Revival Ekklesia Mission in HoChi Minh City had been recorded, according to the city’s centre for diseasecontrol.
Authoritieshave traced more than 2,500 people directly meeting the infected cases (F1) andabout 61,000 others with close contact with these F1s in 20 of the 22 districtsin HCM City, along with 11 other localities nationwide.
As this congregation is alsoconnected with two divisions and six congregations of three other majorProtestant organisations in HCM City and some other provinces, the number ofinfection cases is forecast to keep increasing in the time ahead.
Given the scale of thetransmission, the HCM City police decided to launch an investigation into thecharge of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases in humans”.
The launch of the probe isnecessary and completely legal since several persons in the case were found tohave not complied with disease prevention and control measures regulated by theState such as keeping physical distancing, making health declarations, ortaking tests.
Commenting on this issue,Deputy Minister Thang affirmed that every citizen, be they cadres, Partymembers, religious dignitaries or secular persons, is equal before the law andanyone who commits violations of law will be dealt with.
He noted that recently,Vietnam has punished and dismissed many officials for violating anti-pandemicrules, showing the strictness of and all persons’ equality before the law.
All locations where COVID-19infections are found, be they State agencies’ headquarters, civilian housing,and places of religious organisations, must be sealed off in accordance withregulations for the sake of public health.
Thang said the investigation intothe infection cluster at the Revival EkklesiaMission targets the act of violating the law on public health, but notthe religious organisation itself.
He stressed that there is nosuch thing as the administration discriminates against or creates difficultiesfor religious activities.
The first and foremost goalis to protect the health of people and the community, including religiousfollowers, he added.
According to the deputyminister, in May alone, four religious meetings with large numbers ofparticipants were organised at the house of the leader of the Revival Ekklesia Mission in HCM City, within an areaof just 50 square metres, which did not comply with anti-pandemic measures. Asa result, 40 of the 55 followers participating in the meetings at this locationhave been infected with COVID-19, according to the official.
At a working session betweenPermanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and the HCM City People’sCommittee on June 1, Deputy Minister Thang proposed local authorities suspendactivities of the Revival Ekklesia Mission toserve the investigation and the containment of pandemic transmission.
He alsoasked authorities, especially those at the grassroots level, to intensifyinspection of local places of worship and meet with religious dignitaries to strengthenthe adherence to anti-pandemic measures./.
VNA
