On July 23, the municipal People’s Committee issued Dispatch17 to impose strict social distancing measures under PM’s Directive 16 from 6am on July 24 to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the new measures, all public transport services including buses, taxis, contract vehicles and coaches are banned, excluding those in service of pandemic prevention and control and transporting workers and experts. Motorbikes are also suspended from transporting passengers.
People in the city are asked to stay at home and only go outside in necessary cases like business trips, working at essential businesses (State agencies, factories, essential shops and service providers), buy food and medicines, or emergencies such as medical issues, fires or natural disasters. Masks are mandatory in public places. People must maintain a distance of two meters in public places, and must not congregate in groups larger than two outside of hospital, workplaces, or schools.
People are required to submit health declaration forms via website www.tokhaiyte.vn or Ncovi and Bluezone apps.
Those who have symptoms such as fever, coughing or difficulty breathing must contact local medical establishments for further instructions.
Non-essential services and businesses must close.
The businesses and services that are still allowed to operate include factories, production facilities, transport projects, construction sites, essential businesses or suppliers (food, medicines, utility, gas and oil, etc.), educational institutions, banks and treasuries along with bank-related and business support activities (such as notaries and attorney offices, registration offices, etc.), securities, post offices, import and export activities, medical examination and treatment, and funeral services.
Delivery services such as Grab will continue to operate as normal but will not be allowed to transport passengers.
People are asked cancel weddings, while funeral services must not have more than 20 attendants and will face monitoring by the local health authorities.
All unnecessary meetings are banned.
Production businesses, service establishments, and industrial zones must strictly observe COVID-19 prevention and control measures.
For the agencies and offices of Ha Noi and the central Government based in Ha Noi, companies, enterprises and corporations (including foreign-invested companies) must develop arrangements to ensure their staff work online and only go to the offices in case of necessity.
Malls, supermarkets, traditional markets and wholesale markets in the city are to ensure adequate supply of daily necessities for the local population, arrange stalls and reception procedures (from parking to entry) to reduce the number of customers in the same place at the same time, minimize close contacts and encourage online shopping and delivery.
This is the second time that Ha Noi is imposing the stringent social distancing order, the first being in April 2020, which lasted for nearly a month.
The decision was made after the city recorded many new cases without clear sources of transmission. On Friday, the city recorded 70 cases, which was its highest daily tally since the new wave started late April.
Hanoi has recorded 879 cases in the four wave so far./.
By Khanh Phuong