COVID-19 enters list of occupational diseases from April 1

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong has just signed and promulgated Circular No. 02/2023, which added COVID-19 to the list of occupational diseases, and the disease arising during the working process, because workers might be exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, at their workplace.

The Circular will take effect from April 1, 2023.

According to the Ministry of Health, workers in groups of occupations that are exposed to SARS-CoV-2, include medical workers in health facilities, laboratory staff involved in taking, transporting, handling, conserving and destroying SARS-CoV-2 testing samples, workers in quarantine facilities and at-home isolation, medical workers in the pandemic-affected areas, and others engaged in the transportation, preservation, cremation and burial of COVID-19 victims.

Investigators, diplomats, customs officers, immigration officers, police officers, army soldiers, civil servants, and others participating in pandemic prevention and control are also at high risk of contracting COVID-19.

The Ministry of Health instructs those who are diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease at work from February 1, 2020, to April 1, 2023, will be eligible for medical evaluation and occupational disease compensation, according to current regulations.