Vietnam: New points on implementing measures to prevent and control COVID-19 in Ho Chi Minh City according to Directive 12

Directive 16/CT-TTg

Directive 12-CT/TU

In implementing social distancing

The people are advised to stay at home and only go outside when strictly necessary such as buying food or medicines, providing emergency treatment, going to work at facilities that are allowed to maintain operation to provide essential goods or services, and in other urgent circumstances.

In lockdown areas, strictly follow the motto “person-to-person, family-to-family isolation”; absolutely no direct contact with people around.  People are only allowed to leave their homes when there is a medical emergency, buy essential food at supermarkets/markets in the lockdown area (02 times/week, use shopping vouchers issued by the local government).  

In certain extremely risk areas, each household only stays at home, the authorities will bring necessities to each house.

Enterprises, facilities allowed to operate

Factories, production facilities; traffic and construction works; establishments providing services and essential goods (such as: food, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals; gasoline, oil; electricity; water; fuel,...); educational institutions, banks, treasuries, service providers directly related to banking activities and supporting businesses (such as notaries, lawyers, registry, registration of secured transactions. ..), securities, postal, telecommunications, transportation support services, goods import and export, medical examination, treatment, funeral... can continue to operate.

- Suspend production and business activities of construction sites, construction and traffic works that are not really urgent.

- Banks and securities companies must operate at the level of maintaining capacity to provide necessary services in a timely manner, especially for branches or transaction offices, which can operate alternately and arrange personnel to work on the premises in shifts, strictly abide by the distance rules.

- Only the following business may operate according to service requirements while ensuring the pandemic safety protocols: businesses in health care, pharmaceuticals, food, catering for hospitals, quarantine areas, admission and treatment areas; electricity, water, gas, postal, telecommunications, public sanitation, transportation of essential goods; state treasury, funeral services and a number of other essential services are allowed to operate.

Traffic activities and goods transportation

Shutdown public transportation, except for performance of official tasks, provision of food and essential consumables, transport of workers and specialists of enterprises, transport of raw materials for production. Minimize activities of individual vehicles.

Covid-19 checkpoints at the gateways to the city shall only allow vehicles for public duties, means of transport of goods with QR codes that are allowed to transport into the city or pass through the city; personal vehicles of regulatory agencies and armed forces, vehicles for anti-pandemic duties and public duties; buses to transport municipal people back to their hometowns as planned.

Market activities

No regulations

As for traditional market activities, it is only allowed to operate under the new model, with strict regulations and rigorous control, ensuring an open, airy space with a barrier between buyers and sellers, with prices quoted and encourage sales in prepacked grocery bags, strictly enforce social distancing rules; only allow trading in food and essential goods and reduce the scale to about 30%.