Hanoi, HCM City and provinces restrict gatherings, close street-side business

From 5pm on Monday, Hà Nội temporarily closed relics, religious sites and street-side restaurants and drinks stalls until further notice from the municipal People's Committee.

Indoor restaurants must ensure a minimum distance of one metre between customers or have a shield between seats. They should also encourage takeaway sales.

People returning to Hà Nội after the four-day public holiday must complete medical declarations.

A large number of people in the capital travelled to other localities during the holidays, posing high risks of spreading COVID-19 in the community. 

Documents issues by Hà Nội's People's Committee say health declarations for returnees are compulsory.  

Anyone who shows signs of coughing, fever, shortness of breath, or other suspected symptoms of COVID-19 should go to the nearest medical facilities for timely instruction.

Meanwhile, heads of organisations and agencies in the city must be responsible for medical declaration of their staff, and local authorities for those of the residents. 

The municipal police are assigned to direct their lower units to make a list of returnees after holidays, carry out COVID-19 prevention measures, and give strict punishment to anyone committing violations.

COVID-19 has become complicated in recent days as more people have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 after coming into close contact with a patient in the northern province of Hà Nam.

The 28-year-old man tested positive for the virus after he finished 14 days of mandatory quarantine. He had returned Việt Nam from Japan via Đà Nẵng International Airport on April 7. He was quarantined for 14 days in Đà Nẵng and tested negative for coronavirus three times before completing the quarantine period.

Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Nguyễn Thành Phong on Monday also temporarily closed massage facilities, saunas, cinemas, music stages, theatres and video game businesses from 6pm on Monday.

The decision was made at the emergency meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control at noon on Monday.

Phong was concerned about the risk of an outbreak as people return to the city from other provinces and cities after the holiday.

“HCM City is at very high risk. Therefore, the city must always be on high alert. With the results of community surveillance from Tết holiday until now, the biggest risk is from illegal entries and from domestic outbreaks, so we need to focus on controlling these risks,” he said.

Facing the complex development of the COVID-19 pandemic, acting chairman of Yên Bái City People's Committee Nguyễn Ngọc Trúc launched social distancing measures at midnight on Monday.

People were encouraged to stay at home and buy goods online. Business establishments providing essential goods and services must strictly ensure measures to prevent the pandemic.

The Bình Phước Department of Health on Monday sent an official dispatch to departments, agencies, organisations and localities to monitor people leaving localities affected with COVID-19.

All people from localities that had community COVID-19 cases since last Thursday had to complete medical declarations, quarantine for 14 days and have tests.

The Bình Phước Centre for Disease Control said that currently, the province had six F1 and 74 F2 cases. To date, all of them have tested negative for the virus. The province has not seen any new cases of the disease.— VNS