Hanoi authorities advise against public gatherings of all kinds during the forthcoming Lunar New Year holiday to hinder the spread of COVID-19, according to a new fiat.

On Thursday, the capital city’s chairman Chu Ngoc Anh ordered a cessation of all festivals, religious rituals, sports events, public gatherings, and large events of low necessity during the holiday season.

New year parties and meetups are dissuaded, while weddings, funerals, and longevity ceremonies should be organized responsibly to shun big gatherings and uphold epidemic prevention guidelines.

The people’s committees of wards, districts, towns, and their leaders are responsible for shuttering the operations of roadside beverage stalls, which are seen as regular gathering places of city residents.

Chairman Anh also emphasized the importance of contact tracing, monitoring of high-risk individuals in quarantine and post-quarantine, as well as medical monitoring at home.

Relevant agencies must continue sending messages to sensitize residents to wearing masks, avoiding leaving home if unnecessary, and keep a distance of at least one meter at offices, schools, and hospitals.

Residents are also asked to reduce travel during the Lunar New Year holiday, while transport service providers must implement epidemic prevention measures, including face mask wearing for drivers and passengers, hand sanitization, medical declaration, and passenger information listing.

Leaders of relevant agencies in COVID-19 prevention affairs are required to enforce prevention guidelines within the structures, including an embargo on unnecessary meetings and parties during the height of the outbreak in the capital city.

Vietnam has reported 1,957 coronavirus patients as of Friday morning, with 1,465 recoveries and virus-related 35 fatalities, according to the Ministry of Health.

Most of the domestically-transmitted infections have been linked to Hai Duong and Quang Ninh, both located in northern Vietnam.

Hanoi has so far detected 22 cases of local transmission.

Rapid contact tracing is underway while authorities have managed to put a large number of direct and indirect contacts in quarantine to stem the pathogen.

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