Phung Thi Thu Hien, secretary of the Tran Nguyen Han Ward Party Committee, said the 44-year-old and her father had come into close contact with a person diagnosed with Covid.

The ward contact tracing team asked them to make medical declarations, but only the man complied while the daughter refused, she said.

Police officers and medical staff went to her house at 3 p.m. on Wednesday to convince her, but the woman continued to give excuses as a delaying tactic and then went up to the third floor and locked herself in.

Hien said: "It took officials five hours of continuous persuasion using loud speakers, and they even had to rent the ladder truck to dispatch people to the third floor to talk to her. But she still did not comply."

Finally, officials had to break open the door at 8 p.m. to bring out the woman and send her to quarantine.

The ward has called on the city people's committee to sanction the woman according to regulations, "to set an example," Hien said.

"Failure to comply with quarantine regulations may lead to the risk of further spread of the disease."

Since the new Covid wave began on April 27, Bac Giang has become a hotspot with 1,564 cases as of Thursday afternoon, or more than half the total number.

Hong Chieu