Authorities in Nha Trang City in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa have allowed residents living in coronavirus-free areas to resume outdoor exercises despite the current extensive social distancing meant to last four more days.

Nguyen Tan Tuan, chairman of Khanh Hoa Province, on Thursday evening issued an order to extend the social distancing drive under the prime minister’s Directive No. 16 in Nha Trang City and Van Ninh District from 0:00 am Friday to 0:00 am August 25.

Authorities intend to take advantage of this five-day period to screen for COVID-19 in high-risk areas.

Meanwhile, people in Ninh Hoa Town, Dien Khanh, Cam Lam, and Khanh Vinh Districts, and Cam Ranh City will practice social distancing measures in accordance with the prime minister’s less stringent Directive No. 15, whereas residents in Khanh Son District will implement the pandemic prevention and control mission according to the relaxed Directive No. 19.

The administrations in the aforesaid cities, towns and districts shall categorize their areas into red, orange, yellow, and green zones, with the warmer colors representing more serious levels of infections.

Following Tuan’s order, Nha Trang and Van Ninh’s corresponding chairmen Nguyen Sy Khanh and Dam Ngoc Quang announced specific regulations applied for green zones, or infection-free zones.

Accordingly, people are allowed to carry out outdoor exercise activities and purchase food and essential products at mobile points of sale in line with the dates mandated in their shopping tickets.

Currently, 58 percent of areas in Khanh Hoa Province is classified as green zones, which is a positive result in the fight against COVID-19 so far, according to the provincial chairman Tuan.

However, the pandemic situation in Nha Trang City and Van Ninh District remains very complicated, while the remaining localities still have limitations to overcome.

Tuan requested that functional forces keep a close eye on the local infection situations and timely provide food aid for needy people, especially those living in medical isolation areas.

In the previous six days during the former social distancing phase, Nha Trang authorities collected samples for COVID-19 testing from 399,066 people, or nearly 99 percent of its 403,222 population, according to chairman Khanh.

The city also spent VND3.5 billion (US$153,300) supporting 11,771 poor, near-poor, and disadvantaged households, with each household receiving a gift worth VND300,000 ($13).

Functional forces also established volunteering teams to help residents in lockdown areas shop for food.

As of Friday evening, Vietnam had documented 323,268 COVID-19 cases, with 132,815 recoveries and 7,540 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country has detected 319,209 domestic transmissions in 62 out of 63 provinces and cities, including 5,031 in Khanh Hoa, in this fourth bout.

Ho Chi Minh City is taking the lead with 167,717 patients.

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