Hanoi to enforce urgent COVID-19 response measures from July 19

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh on July 18 evening signed an official dispatch No.15 on the enforcement of urgent measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic amid increasingly complicated developments of the virus across the nation.

Accordingly, a wide range of urgent anti-pandemic measures are set to be enforced from zero hours on July 19 across the whole capital.

People should only leave home for emergencies, buying food and medicine, and working in factories, production facilities and businesses that involve trade in "essential" goods and services.

People must maintain a distance of at least two meters from each other, and no gathering of more than five would be allowed in public, except for in offices, schools and hospitals.

People must inform authorities of their health status and undertake measures to protect their families' and their own health.

It is essential to make regular medical declarations on websites www.tokhaiyte.vn or Ncovi, Bluezone applications when going out.

Business leaders will be responsible for deploying disease prevention measures at their businesses and keeping their employees healthy.

Agencies, businesses, including foreign-invested ones, were advised to devise outline online working or work-in-shift plans.

Shopping malls, supermarkets, wholesale and wet markets in the city only sell necessities. Public transport means must reduce seats by half. The city was asked to ensure sufficient food and necessities in every case.

Besides, Hanoi has also halted public transportation to 37 pandemic-hit localities, starting from July 18.

The decision came after the Prime Minister decided to impose social distancing on 19 southern cities and provinces in a bid the slow the spreading of the virus to the wider community.

Public transportation to and from all the localities can only resume after a locality has not registered any coronavirus case for 14 consecutive days or until further notice.

Since the resurgence of the pandemic in late April, the capital city has recorded 427 positive cases of COVID-19,with many of them having unclear sources of infection.