High traffic density at Kim Liên-Xã Đàn Intersection in Hà Nội on April 7. A lot of people in Hà Nội have gone out despite the stay-at-home recommendation from the Government during 14 days of social distancing. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc urged the public to continue to strictly follow social distancing guidelines which are scheduled to take effect until April 15.

At a Government meeting on implementing social distancing measures on Monday, he asked the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control to propose further plans so the Government would make the decision on the next steps on April 15.

The decision to extend social distancing or not will be made based on feedback collected from sectors and localities.

Before the next steps are announced, the national steering committee asked local authorities to detect infection cases in the community and quarantine related people to promptly stamp out the clusters.

PM Phúc praised Hà Nội, HCM City and many other localities for taking drastic social distancing measures in spite of pressure on production, labour and taxes.

However, in some places, people had started to go out while a number of stores remain open despite the ban, he said.

He urged the public not to neglect prevention measures. Localities must step up measures to protect the health of workers at factories.

PM Phúc gave the green light to promoting cashless payments in order to prevent virus transmission and ordered the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and the State Bank of Việt Nam to soon implement the plan.

He also agreed on online health check-ups at 14,000 healthcare facilities nationwide and asked the MIC to soon put into operation software which supervises and tracks COVID-19 infection cases.

PM Phúc allowed Việt Nam to export medical masks and protective gear to countries heavily affected by the pandemic if Việt Nam has enough reserve supply.  — VNS