On April 1, the Prime Minister officially declared a nationwide Covid-19 epidemic and issued Directive 16 on implementing a 15-day social distancing.
The Prime Minister requested the public to strictly maintain a minimum distance of 2 meters when communicating; no gatherings of more than 2 people outside of workplaces, schools, hospitals, and public places.
On the afternoon of April 3, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung issued an urgent document providing specific guidance on implementing social distancing.
To minimize the risk of community transmission, people are required to stay home, limiting going outside to a truly necessary cases:
1. Buying food, essential goods, pharmaceuticals, and other necessary services.
2. Emergency cases such as: emergency medical care, natural disasters, fires,…
3. Working at state agencies, armed forces, diplomatic missions, and at the following establishments: factories, production facilities; transport and construction projects; establishments providing essential goods and services (such as: food, pharmaceuticals; gasoline, oil; electricity, water, fuel,…); educational institutions, banks, treasury, service businesses directly related to banking activities and business support (such as notaries, lawyers, registration, secured transaction registration…), securities, postal services, telecommunications, transport support services, import and export of goods, medical examinations, treatments, funerals… are allowed to continue operations.
The heads of the above establishments are responsible for ensuring absolute safety and fully implementing epidemic prevention measures, including:
As of now, the country has basically halted public passenger transport, except in cases of official duties, shuttles for workers, experts, quarantined individuals, and vehicles transporting production materials and goods. Activities of personal vehicles should be minimized.
Ensure the smooth operation of the transportation of goods and production materials. Localities must immediately abolish measures of stopping or prohibiting people and vehicles from entering their localities not in accordance with the Directive.
During a meeting of the Hanoi Covid-19 Prevention and Control Steering Committee on the afternoon of April 3, Chairman of the City People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung requested checks and fines for those going outside not belonging to the cases mentioned above.
The city has closed all parks and enhanced communication efforts regarding: raising awareness related to prevention (washing hands with soap and sanitizer; mandatory mask wearing; maintaining a distance of 2 meters); strict home isolation, keeping distance from people in the household; not going outside for 2 weeks, especially for the elderly.
As of the evening of April 3, Vietnam recorded 237 Covid-19 patients, with 86 people having recovered and been discharged. Hanoi is the locality with the highest number of infections. Over the past week, the number of infections has nearly doubled compared to three weeks ago. In particular, there have been continuous reports of community transmission. In the coming days, new infections in the area will sporadically increase.
