Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have decided to shut down local bars, discos, and karaoke parlors following the recent detection of a community-base COVID-19 infection.

Bars, discos, and karaoke parlors in the metropolis will be closed from 6:00 pm on Friday, the first day of the weekend holiday marking the Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers’ Day (May 1), until further notice.

Other services are required to strictly comply with COVID-19 prevention and control measures, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said at a meeting on Friday morning.

He also required local authorities to conduct more patrols and sternly fine those who fail to wear face masks in public.

Ho Chi Minh City had gone through 75 days without documenting any community-base COVID-19 infection prior to the detection of patient No. 2,910 on Thursday evening.

The 28-year-old man had had direct contact with patient No. 2,899 in the northern province of Ha Nam before heading to the southern metropolis on April 27.

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong speaks at a meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control, April 30, 2021. Photo: Tien Long / Tuoi Tre

Competent authorities have fenced off the alley at 20 Pham Dang Giang Street in Binh Tan District, where patient No. 2,910’s tenanted house is located.

As of Friday morning, seven direct contacts of the patient have tested negative for the novel coronavirus once.

Bars, discos, and karaoke parlors in Ho Chi Minh City were previously shuttered when the third wave of infections hit the country during the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February.

These venues were only allowed to reopen from March 19.

Vietnam has documented 2,913 COVID-19 cases as of Friday morning, with 2,516 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

Ho Chi Minh City has recorded 255 coronavirus cases so far.

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