Tighter preventive measures to be applied
On March 26 alone, 19 more people were suspected in which 14 people had tested negative so far. A man who had gone to the Buddha Bar came to the hospital for testing and the result came back positive, making a total of nine people who were at the bar that have tested positive.
Ngo Minh Chau, vice chairman of HCM City People's Committee, will join the steering committee for Covid-19 control and prevention to deal with people who refuse to go into quarantine, close their stores, spread fake news or engage in price gouging.
"I can confirm that the news about locking down HCM City is fake. Chau and the city police will investigate this issue," Phong said.
Tu Luong, deputy head of the Department of Information and Communication, said they had detected 18 accounts that spread the news. Eight of them had taken down the post, five accounts are in Quang Tri, Binh Dinh and Dong Nai and five accounts are overseas.
HCM City authorities are trying to curb the spread so that the number of cases will be below 150. "We are willing to risk the economy for public health," Phong said.
He went on to say that the next two weeks will be crucial so citizens must stay indoors and stop gathering in large crowds. Offices should not have more than 10 people and meetings should not be held. Phong warned that he would punish the leaders of districts, communes and wards if any large gatherings are detected in their areas.
"We'll start fining people without face masks in public places," he said. "This might be a chance to develop online businesses and to promote public service application."
Party Secretary of HCM City Nguyen Thien Nhan emphasised the importance of masks and hand washing, saying that the locality authorities should inform the public where face masks are being sold. The city authorities have proposed to cut the extra income of state employees by half to support those who lost their jobs. The proposal will be submitted to the city People's Council on March 27.
"It is estimated that 600,000 people in HCM City will lose jobs due to the outbreak. We can give them support of VND1m (USD43) per person. Everyone can try to live more frugally," Nhan said.
