Shippers race to Covid-19 testing sites in HCM City

Hundreds of shippers in HCM City are facing difficulties getting Covid-19 tests for permission to resume working on August 31.

Shippers line up for Covid-19 tests

Shippers were already lined up in front of the testing site at Vang Anh Nursery School at 858 Quang Trung Street at 6.30 am. Since the testing hours are from 7 am to 9 am, many shippers said they had to wake up very early to go to the sites.

Only a group of 10 shippers were allowed to enter the testing site at a time. The quick test will give results within 15 minutes. 85 shippers were tested on the morning of August 31 and the results were negative. They were given a certificate to work in the city.

Shippers fill in information before the tests

Shipper Nguyen Minh Tuan said, "We have to take the test daily so there will be difficulties. I'll try to work for a few days to see how it goes. If it's too hard, I may not continue this work."

39-year-old Pham Thi Hang said that she worked for over a year ago, yet had to stay home for several months. "I can't afford to look after my family like that. I know travelling around is not safe at a time like this but I have to try," she said.

Taking samples for Covid-19 tests

Many shippers also lined up for testings at a site on Nguyen Van Nghi Street, Go Vap District.

Tran Thi Thu Ha, representative of Go Vap Medical Station said they had announced on the internet that there would be three testing sites at 161 Nguyen Van Nghi Street, 137 Thong Nhat and 858 Quang Trung streets.

"Many shippers did not know about this information so they only went to one or two sites and it meant that some places were overcrowded," Ha said.