COVID-19 enters list of occupational diseases from April 1

ABO/NDO- The Ministry of Health has just added COVID-19 to the list of occupational diseases and workers who contracted the disease at work can make social insurance claims.

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.

Illustrative image.

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.

(Source: NDO)