Vietnam adopts strict social distancing measures nationwide to combat coronavirus

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday issued a directive on social distancing that will apply nationwide for 15 days starting from April 1 in an attempt to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The prime minister requires “each family to isolate itself from other families, one village from other villages, one commune from other communes, one province from other provinces.

Only factories, businesses and service establishments producing and providing essential goods and services are allowed to open but have to ensure workers follow strict health guidelines.

All people are ordered to stay at home and only go out in case of emergencies, buying food or medicine, or going to work at factories and essential services that are not closed down or halt operations.

People are required to keep a minimum distance of two metres from others in public places while any gathering of more than two people in public outside of offices, schools and hospitals is prohibited.

State agencies are encouraged to let employees work from home, except for necessary shifts, military duties, the production of essential goods or classified jobs that require working at the office.

These strict measures are adopted as the spread of the Covid-19 has shown no signs of abating, with the number of infected people amounting to 204 to date.

The prime minister asks the ministries of Health, Public Security and municipal authorities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to pull out all the stops to contain outbreaks at Bach Mai Hospital and Buddha Bar where a dozens of people were founded positive with SARS-CoV-2 recently. 

All airlines have reduced frequency to major destionations, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang and Phu Quoc, to one or two flights a day. All buses of more than nine seats have been banned from going to and from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.