Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have decided to close karaoke parlors, nightclubs, bars, pubs, beer clubs, massage parlors among others after dozens of new Covid-19 infection cases were reported in the city over the past couple of days.
Health workers take samples for Covid-19 testing in HCM City on February 8
The city leader also asked to stop the organisation of the opening ceremony of the Nguyen Hue Flower Street and the Book Street Festival which is scheduled for February 9.
The flower street and the book street will be open from 8 am to 5 pm.
All other essential service facilities, including healthcare establishments, must fully comply with regulations on Covid-19 prevention and fight.
Those who fail to wear masks at public places will be strictly fined.
Ho Chi Minh City reported 28 locally-infected Covid-19 cases Monday including 24 cases found in different districts.
At an online conference with the city’s authorities on February 8, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long required the city to act more quickly in zoning off affected areas with links to the new cases, and conducting mass testing in those areas.
Long asked the HCM City Pasteur Institute to increase testing capacity to 5,000 samples per day, adding the Ministry of Health will support the city in settling the outbreak at Tan Son Nhat airport.
“We should act faster than the outbreak,” he stressed.
Seeing the pandemic become complicated in recent days, Chairman of the municipal people’s committee Nguyen Thanh Phong ordered competent authorities to find out the source of the outbreak so as to have effective preventative measures.
