Grab Company Limited, an app-based passenger transport firm, has resumed operations in Ho Chi Minh City by launching a new service, GrabCar Protect, after a four-month halt due to COVID-19.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based firm has operated again from Thursday after obtaining permission from the municipal transport department on October 5.

GrabCar Protect has marked the restoration of the firm’s services in the southern business hub after being suspended since June 19 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new service meets all requirements set by local transport authorities in the context that the city has reopened its economy since October 1 under ‘new normal conditions,’ a phrase the Vietnamese government uses to describe its new strategy of living safely with the new coronavirus.

The transport department limits the numbers of app-based vehicles and drivers and requires the service provider to comply with all epidemic prevention measures.  

GrabCar Protect ensures the highest safety and hygiene standards for both its driver partners and passengers throughout every trip, and actively contributes to the city’s epidemic prevention and control efforts, the company said.

Drivers are required to turn off air-conditioners, open all car windows, and remind their passengers to observe epidemic prevention measures.

Passengers must use their QR codes to make movement declarations via VNEID app, and have vaccination record cards or proof of recovery from COVID-19 for no more than 180 days.

All cabs must have QR codes for identification and transport passengers only within the city.

Passengers are advised to pay transport charges using non-cash payments.

GrabCar Protect drivers are required to have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, with the second shot administered for at least 14 days, and have a negative COVID-19 test result every seven days.  

Grab is committed to operating at no more than 50 percent of capacity of every GrabCar Protect vehicle, with a four-seater and seven-seater cab carrying only one and two passengers, respectively.

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