Xa Dan-De La Thanh Street on April 13
"Many people have broken the social distancing rules and people have gone out so much now that the streets are packed. We need tighter rules," he said. "I say we need at least one more week of social distancing and the measures must be strict or else all the efforts will be futile."
Meanwhile, at a different meeting with the National Steering Committee about Covid-19 Prevention and Control, the head of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention & Control, Vu Duc Dam said the epidemic would last long. All data show that Vietnam has dealt with the outbreak well but it is still a high-risk situation. Relaxing social distancing rules too soon will lead to a resurgence. As of now, containment is still the most effective method.
"Social distancing has badly affected many people and businesses but health is everything, without health, there's nothing. We must continue strictly following the rules," he said.
Social distancing measures will be upheld until April 15 and violators will be fined. The measures will be reviewed after but basic preventive methods like wearing face masks, washing hands and keeping a safe distance from other people at public places will still be maintained. There are opinions that the government should issue more details and specific rules while carrying out social distancing for different types of businesses and localities. IT technology will be used more in contact tracing and monitoring.
Local authorities were asked to update the information to the national database to analyse which provinces and cities that have the highest and lowest risk factors. Experts at the meeting agreed that Vietnam shouldn't relax immigration policy yet.
The authorities should start testing some specific groups of people like low-income workers and closely monitor places that often have large gatherings like parks, religious places and markets.
