Authorities of Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap District have announced instructions on how to perform the extenstive social distancing measures to contain the increasing coronavirus spread.

Following a decision issued by the municipal People's Committee on Sunday, Go Vap District and Thanh Loc Ward of District 12 will be placed in enhanced social distancing under the prime minister’s Directive No. 16 for 15 days, from 0:00 am on Monday.

Go Vap and Thanh Loc have become the city's two hot spots of COVID-19 due to numerous direct links to the infections at Revival Ekklesia Mission, a Christian congregation based in the district, which have sent the city’s caseload soaring in recent days.

Meanwhile, the rest of the city will follow less strict social distancing measures under the PM’s Directive No. 15.

Under Directive No. 16, people are required to stay at home and limit going out as much as possible, except in necessary cases, such as going to work, and in emergency circumstances such as fires, Nguyen Tri Dung, chairman of the Go Vap People’s Committee, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The chairman asked people to work at home as much as possible and to avoid going outside.

Dung also required everybody to comply with epidemic prevention measures, including face mask donning, hand washing with antiseptic solutions, no gathering of more than two people in public, and keeping a two-meter distance between people.

Heads of all agencies and enterprises must bear responsibility for ensuring the strict implementation of epidemic control measures and for conducting suitable and effective remote working plans.

Any establishments failing to follow COVID-19 control rules will be shut down, he emphasized.

Regarding entry into and exits from Go Vap, local authorities temporarily allow people, and their vehicles, to enter and leave the district within Monday, but they must show their e-medical declarations at checkpoints if required, the chairman told reporters.

The local government is working with relevant agencies on a travel mechanism to be applied to people going from Go Vap to other localities and vice versa from Tuesday, the district’s leader said.

On Friday evening, the municipal authorities started collecting samples from about 50,000 people living around the premises of the Christian congregation in Go Vap, after five pooled samples in relation to it returned suspected results.

The Ministry of Health confirmed 68 new COVID-19 cases nationwide at noon on Monday, all domestically detected, of which 48 were in Bac Giang Province.

The new infections have taken Vietnam’s tally of patients to 7,236, including 47 deaths, since the pandemic appeared in the country in early 2020.

Since April 27, when the pandemic’s fourth wave began in Vietnam, 4,164 infections have been documented across the Southeast Asian country.

In Ho Chi Minh City, 149 community cases have been confirmed since May 27, most traced to the Christian congregation, the municipal Center for Disease Control reported on Monday.

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