Hanoi reopens restaurants, Ho Chi Minh City sees rising cases

Minh Vu

Jun 22, 2021 / 04:19 PM

Bars and pubs for beer are only allowed for takeaway in the capital city.

Covid-19 news in Vietnam on June 21 spotlighted the reopening of restaurants and barbershops in Hanoi in contrast with the rising infections in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

A barbershop in Hanoi before the closure order on May 25. Photo: Kinhtedothi

Restaurants and barbershops are allowed to resume operations from June 22 together with imposing precautionary measures namely no more than 50% of the total seats and no more than 20 people, having table shields for safe dining, and closing before 9:00 pm.

Bars and pubs for beer are only allowed for takeaway.

Hanoi said it will resume non-essential services depending on the pandemic situation. The suspension of non-essential services in the city began on April 29 while the barbershops since May 25. So far, it has reported 465 confirmed cases, including those detected in the two big national hospitals. The has confirmed no community cases for several days.

HCMC appeared to be the second-largest locality in terms of infections with 1,784, behind Bac Giang epicenter having 5,459.

The southern economic hub is in the mass inoculation program with more than 830,000 doses to be administered. In this round of injection, the city will give about 51% of the vaccines to workers and executives in industrial parks, export processing zones, and high-tech zones, in order to maintain the production chain.

Vaccination at Quang Trung Software Center in HCMC. Photo: QTSC

Workers in Quang Trung Software Center (QTSC) are among the recipients. Director of QTSC Lam Nguyen Hai Long said: “The vaccination to workers in QTSC shows the city’s special care for the IT industry as well as businesses operating in the center, especially foreign-invested enterprises and software development firms in the global supply chain, contributing largely to the city’s dual goal of containing the pandemic and maintaining the economic development.”

According to Deputy Chairman of the HCMC People’ Committee Duong Anh Duc, the city has negotiated with vaccine suppliers and it “likely buys 5-10 million doses this year.”

Regarding the vaccine purchase, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a Government meeting on June 21 that it’s necessary to remove barriers hindering the private sector in buying vaccines to serve the utmost goal of having as many vaccines as possible in the shortage time.

Currently, only the Minister of Health’s authorized companies are eligible to import the Covid-19 vaccines.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam continues to implement the “5K + vaccine” formula [5K measure means the practice of masking – disinfection – distance – no gathering – medical declaration] together with the application of technology in anti-pandemic. In addition, active prevention, early detection, quick isolation, effective treatment remain unchanged. Of which, rapid and early testing is considered a key measure in the fight against Covid-19.

On June 21, the country saw the cumulative cases reached 13,483, including 69 deaths.

Its inoculation remains slow due to the thin vaccine supply. As of June 21, around 2.55 million doses have been administered in Vietnam or 2.63 heads per 100 people, compared to 7.87 in the Philippines, 9.1 in Myanmar, 11.49 in Thailand, 13.09 in Indonesia, 15.65 in Brunei, 17.05 in Laos, 18.56 in Malaysia, 37.06 in Cambodia, and 85.32 in Singapore.