Vietnam races to vaccinate factory workers after record virus cases

Two workers drinking juice and taking a break in front of a closed shop in Hanoi on May 28, 2021. - AFP

HANOI, May 27 (AFP): Vietnam began vaccinating hundreds of thousands of factory workers in its industrialised north on Thursday to combat its largest Covid-19 outbreak so far, days after the country reported a daily record in new cases.

The communist country has been widely applauded for its aggressive pandemic response -- with mass quarantines and strict contact tracing helping keep infection rates low -- but clusters have now been reported in around half of its provinces and cities.