AS VIETNAM'S daily Covid-19 cases nears the 200,000 mark, China has moved to block entry to vehicles coming into the country through Vietnam's Huu Nghi border gate in Lang Son Province.
The Chinese move came after border officials detected some Vietnamese truck drivers infected with the coronavirus.
According to the Vn Express, Lang Son customs officials said the border had been closed since Sunday as the Chinese side wanted to test officials and others who may have come into contact with the infected drivers.
It is not yet clear when China will reopen the border gate and as of Monday over 1,700 container trucks were stuck in Lang Son province, including 1,097 trucks loaded with fresh agricultural produce.
The Huu Nghi border gate accounts for 54 per cent of the total number of trucks entering China.
Lang Son authorities have now said they would stop allowing trucks carrying fresh fruits to the border until March 15, extending a previous deadline by 10 days.
Vietnam Customs said that in the first 11 months of last year, the country earned US$1.75 billion from exporting fruits and vegetables to China, up 3.6 per cent year-on-year despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said Vietnam recorded 194,795 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.
This includes 32,380 cases that northern Bac Ninh Province had detected on previous days and was left out of the national database.
Hanoi had the most cases with 32,650 infections, followed by Nghe An Province with 15,292 cases and Phu Tho with 4,882 cases.
The ministry also announced another 86 Covid-19 deaths, bringing the nation's Covid-19 death toll so far to 40,977, or 0.9 per cent of all infections.
Of the more than 1.87 million Covid-19 patients under treatment in the country, it said 4,258 were severe cases.
About 75.8 million people of Vietnam's 96 million population have been vaccinated with two doses, including 67.6 million adults and more than 8.2 million children aged between 12 and 17.