Hanoi (VNA), Feb. 15 -- More than 800 businesses and 8,700 employees have been affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The ministry has just released a report on the impact of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus first reported in Wuhan , China.

Accordingly, a survey of 30 provinces and cities showed that 322 out of 181,597 enterprises have suspended operations, while 553 enterprises reduced or narrowed their production and business scale.

Twenty-two provinces and cities reported that 8,773 workers have been affected and 1,027 made unemployed.

In the report of 63 localities, of the 33,775 Chinese workers employed in the localities under work permits, 26,388 went back ...