Today’s Covid News: Partial curfew in HCMC from tomorrow evening

Ho Chi Minh City will impose a partial curfew from tomorrow evening [July 26], requiring residents not to go outside after 6:00 PM, the city’s Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said at a meeting in the evening of Sunday.

Authorities have tightened control over preventive measures in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

“From tomorrow, people will not go out from 6:00 PM to 6:AM daily. All activities are temporarily suspended, except for emergencies and anti-pandemic work,” Phong said at a time when the city has undergone 17 days of partial lockdown but the implementation remains lenient.

As of July 25, the city has reported 60,425 Covid-19 infections, accounting for 61% of the country’s total caseload.

Phong asked armed forces and authorized officials to conduct patrols all day night and check the implementation of precautionary measures. Individuals who infringe the rules would be strictly punished, including given criminal liability in case of spreading the virus.

Local leaders will also be strictly punished if they show signs of indifference, loose leadership, and slow response to people’s complaints that lead to the spread of the pandemic.

Phong said imposing stricter restrictions is not what the city wants, but it’s the only way to combat the pandemic.

The local government’s leader called for people’s support.

So far, the most populous city has experienced four times of restrictions with the first happened on May 31 for 15 days, the second time on June 14 for two weeks, the third on June 16, and the fourth time on July 9.

Military personnel disinfects an affected area. Photo: Kinh Te Do Thi

Hanoi to conduct large-scale disinfection

Today, the capital city underwent the second day of the 15-day partial lockdown that orders locals to shelter in place, except for emergencies and purchase of essentials goods like drugs and food.

The city has planned to conduct large-scale disinfection with support from the army.

To make the restrictions effective, Secretary of the municipal Party’s Committee Dinh Tien Dung stressed the importance of disciplines in the fight against Covid-19.

“The whole city needs to strictly follow the direction of the Task Force led by Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh,” Dung told local authorities on Sunday (July 25).

Vaccines

Some 1.5 million Moderna Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived in Hanoi on Sunday, in addition to another 1.5 million doses landed in Ho Chi Minh City late Saturday. The three million doses are donated by the US through the COVAX Facility.

At the National Assembly’s session today, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Vietnam has clinched three deals on vaccine technology transfer with Russia, the US, and Japan.

Of them, the contract with Russia has resulted in producing the first batch of vaccines, which was sent to Russia for quality control. The tech transfer will be taken place at the end of the year. Meanwhile, the contract with the US will enable Vietnam to take trials in August and to produce vaccines with a designed capacity of  200 million doses in the first half of 2022.

Daily infections

Vietnam confirmed 7,531 coronavirus infections on Sunday, including 60% detected in Ho Chi Minh City. More than 19% of the total 98,465 cases have recovered while the death toll is unchanged at 370.

With today’s infections, Binh Duong ranks just behind Ho Chi Minh City with 8,010 in total, followed by Dong Nai 2,216, and Dong Thap 1,959. Hanoi’s figure is 903.

So far, more than 4.59 million doses of vaccines have been administered with more than 353,000 fully vaccinated.

Vietnam's Covid-19 cases. Source: MoH. Chart: Minh Vu