The Hanoi Center for Disease Control (HCDC) has proposed that the municipal Health Department relax coronavirus control measures by resuming some essential businesses in the capital city soon, likely on Tuesday.

Khong Minh Tuan, deputy director of the HCDC, said that the center has proposed the reopening of food and beverage establishments, barbershops, and traditional markets first, based on the current epidemic situation in Hanoi.

“Hanoi has closed many business activities for epidemic prevention purposes for a long time, so we are considering reopening some,” Tuan told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Monday.

If approved, the loosening of epidemic control regulations will be applied on Tuesday, the health official said.

Accordingly, indoor restaurants and outdoor exercise activities would be restored, while street food operations would remain closed.

The loosening will be carried out on the principle of ensuring social distancing as well as strictly complying with other epidemic prevention measures, Tuan said.

All establishments allowed to be reopened must not gather more than 20 people at a time and must ensure a minimum distance between people, as well as other requirements.

“Beer restaurants, if allowed to reopen, are required to use only 50 percent of their space capacity,” the official said.

It is expected that the municipal administration will make a decision on this proposal within Monday, Tuan said.

Since June 15, Hanoi has yet to record any new domestic COVID-19 case, local health authorities reported.

On May 5, the Hanoi People’s Committee decided to suspend massage parlors, movie centers, spa facilities, and gyms to curb the coronavirus spread.

Six days later, when the epidemic situation got more complicated, the local government requested the closure of all local beer catering points until further notice, while ordering the shutdown of all unofficial markets.

Since May 25, the municipal authorities have suspended all dine-in food and beverage outlets, allowing them to sell takeaways only, among other restrictions.

In a report released at noon on Monday, the Ministry of Health confirmed 90 new COVID-19 cases, including 88 domestic and two imported cases, of which 63 were recorded in Ho Chi Minh City.

The new cases have taken the country’s tally of patients to 13,348, including 5,229 recoveries and 69 deaths, including three announced on Monday.

Since April 27, when the pandemic’s fourth wave broke out in Vietnam, the country has documented 10,078 cases, of which 2,445 have recovered.

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