The Da Nang People’s Court on Thursday sentenced Nguyen Quang Trong, a 29-year-old resident of Thach Thang Ward, Hai Chau District, the Director of Amida international beauty salon, to three years in prison on the charge of “violating safety regulations in crowded places”.

Nguyen Quang Trong, the Director of Amida international beauty salon, is seen in court. Photo: LE HUNG

According to the indictment, the Amida international beauty salon has two campuses: one at 222 Phan Chau Trinh Street, Hai Chau District and the other at 539 Dien Bien Phu Street, Thanh Khe District.
Between 8.30pm to 10.15pm on May 2, Trong asked his 36 employees to attend a meeting in a 55m2 room on the 5th floor of the 222 Phan Chau Trinh facility.

When entering this meeting room, all attendees wore face masks, but Trong later asked his staff members to remove their face masks and shout out the salon's goals many times with a duration of 5-10 minutes.

After the above-mentioned meeting, the Amida salon’s facility at 222 Phan Chau Trinh, Hai Chau District turned itself a COVID-19 hotspot with 65 positive cases, of which 54 cases are in Da Nang (including 31 Amida employees and 23 close contacts) and 11 cases in four other provinces and cities (seven Amida employees and four close contacts).

As a result, the Amida salon outbreak caused damage worth a total of more than VND11.8 billion to localities, of which nearly VND8.5 billion in Da Nang, nearly VND865 million in Quang Tri Province, nearly VND1.5 billion in Thua Thien Hue Province, nearly VND280 million in Dak Lak Province and VND830 million in Quang Nam Province.

Organising a meeting for about 40 participants in such a small meeting room went against the regulations on prohibiting gatherings and keeping a safe distance between people.

Trong was asked to pay VND50 million worth of compensation.

In addition to the prison sentence, the trial panel forced the defendant to pay the remaining compensation amount to the authorities of the five provinces and cities mentioned above.

Reporting by LE HUNG – Translating by A. THU