May I ask whether service providers in Vietnam had to temporarily suspend starting from March 28, 2020? And what regulation did the government rely on to require these service providers to suspend operations until April 15, 2020? These are the questions from Mr. Ngô Tiến Sỹ in Ho Chi Minh City, sent to LawNet for clarification on April 02, 2020.
Article table of contents
LawNet would like to answer Mr. Sỹ’s question as follows:
Recently, on March 27, 2020, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued Directive No. 15/CT-TTg on the climax stage of COVID-19 control effort. For efficient control and proactive prevention of COVID-19 on a national scale and for the protection of people's lives and health, the Prime Minister requests that Provincial People’s Committees shall implement restriction of mass gatherings from March 28 at 12:00 AM to the end of April 15, 2020, specifically as follows:
a) Stop all meetings and gatherings with more than 20 people in one room; do not form groups of more than 10 people outside office buildings, schools or hospitals; and keep a distance of at least 2m in public spaces.
b) Stop all religious rites and activities with more than 20 participants in religious establishments; stop all cultural, sports and recreational activities in public places.
c) Suspend operations of service providers in their provinces, excluding those providing essential goods or services. Chairpersons of People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities shall decide the types of businesses that must suspend their operations.
Thus, it can be seen that according to this Directive, officially from March 28 at 12:00 AM to the end of April 15, 2020, service providers other than those providing essential goods or services shall have their operations suspended to control and limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The question is, on what basis did the Prime Minister issue the directive requiring service providers to temporarily suspend their operations?
According to Article 52 of the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases 2007 of Vietnam, the restriction of mass gatherings or suspension of activities and services in public places is one of the anti-epidemic measures. According to Clause 1 Article 17 of Decree No. 101/2010/ND-CP of Vietnam’s Government, the conditions for issuing a decision on adoption of measures to restrict concentration of people or suspension of business in public places are specified as follows:
1. Conditions for issuing a decision on adoption of measures to restrict concentration of people or suspension of business in public places:
a) Spreading epidemic is an epidemic of class-A infectious diseases;
b) The competent health authority has determined that the epidemic transmission is airborne transmission with high infectivity.
Formerly, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued Decision No. 173/QD-TTg on the declaration of the acute respiratory infection caused by the new strain of Coronavirus. This Decision affirms that the disease caused by the COVID-19 virus (formerly known as Corona) falls under the category of highly contagious Group A diseases with a global emergency risk.
Therefore, the Prime Minister's directive to temporarily suspend the operations of service providers, except for those providing essential goods and services, from March 28, 2020, until April 15, 2020, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is entirely justified.
Nguyen Trinh
- Key word:
- Directive No. 15/CT-TTg
- Covid-19
- coronavirus
