A shipper in HCM City gets their documents checked on the road. HCM City’s Department of Transport has asked other departments to contribute opinions on a draft plan to regulate the city’s traffic from October 1. – VNAVNS Photo Văn Dũng

HCM CITY – The HCM City Department of Transport has drafted travel regulations starting from October 1 that specify where vehicles can ply based on COVID-19 levels.

With the city slated to gradually reopen and relax its strict social distancing orders from September 30, the department has circulated them to other relevant agencies for feedback before they are finalised.

The areas in the city will be categorised into three: under quarantine, high-risk and new normal.

In quarantine areas, only certain vehicles will be permitted for transporting essential goods or medical equipment, staff, frontline workers, and patients or for repairing infrastructure.

In high-risk areas, others like delivery vehicles, those transporting goods or employees related to banking and allied services like notarisation and registration, people who need to visit hospitals and equipment and materials for public construction works will also be allowed.

People living there can travel between HCM City and their home provinces by buses arranged by authorities in the city and provinces.

Vehicles transporting "workers and experts" need to have a permit from the department, and their occupants should have either got their first COVID vaccine at least 14 days earlier or recovered from the disease, but still need to furnish a negative test result.

In new normal areas, buses, taxis and waterway vehicles will also be allowed.

Permits will be issued to manage the number of buses on the road, and city public buses will travel on routes approved by the department.

Trucks with a capacity of up to 2.5 tonnes can transport goods throughout the day at high-risk and new-normal areas.

People coming from other provinces to HCM City for medical treatment need to furnish negative test results obtained within the previous 72 hours besides appointment and hospital relocation proof or a permit from their local authorities allowing them to travel to HCM City.

Emergency cases will be exempt from this.

The city will keep its border checkpoints open.

It remains the disease epicentre, with more than 362,000 cases as of September 25 since the latest outbreak outbreak in April. – VNS