HCMC extends social distancing order by two more weeks

HCMC should extend its current social distancing period by another two weeks due to ongoing coronavirus concerns, the municipal health department proposed Monday.

The city-wide social distancing measure means social events are suspended while gatherings of 20 people or more in one place and of 10 people or more outside workplaces, schools and hospitals are banned. A minimum distance of two meters between people in public places should be ensured.

The extension is justified as the coronavirus still lurks inside the community, and a premature lifting of the social distancing order may give it a chance to proliferate further, said director of the HCMC Department of Health Nguyen Tan Binh.

HCMC now records 819 local Covid-19 infections in Vietnam's latest coronavirus wave since late April, having the third-highest number of infections behind Bac Giang and Bac Ninh. The southern metropolis has observed the emergence of several concerning coronavirus clusters which have sparked infections in all its 21 districts and Thu Duc City.

On Sunday the city recorded 95 local Covid-19 cases, the highest number of daily new infections for the city since the disease first appeared in Vietnam early last year.

(VN .Expr)