Workers at Pouyuen Việt Nam Company in HCM City have their temperatures checked at the factory gate. VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vũ

HCM CITY — Government agencies and businesses in HCM City are taking proactive measures to protect employees and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The city has 415,000 companies which employ 3.2 million people.

Nearly 6,300 have carried out assessments of COVID-19 infection risks based on a set of indicators issued by the city’s Steering Committee for COVID-19 Disease Prevention and Control, according to the Department of Health.

More than 3,700 rated their infection risk at a very low level, 2,483 at a low level, 77 at a moderate level, and only five at a high level.

The steering committee in co-ordination with district-level medical centres carried out onsite inspections at 1,687 businesses and factories with less than 3,000 workers.

It found 45 per cent had a very low level of infection risk, 53 per cent had a low level and the remaining 2 per cent had a moderate level, according to the Department of Health.

It also inspected 22 businesses with more than 3,000 workers. One, Pouyuen Vietnam, had very high level of infection risk and was ordered to close its factory on April 14 and 15.

It was allowed to reopen after it introduced safety measures to protect its workers. It arranged for 30 per cent of the workers to take leave to prevent crowding and enable distancing between workers.

Huỳnh Ngọc Thành, deputy director of the city Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said businesses rated as facing a high level of infection risk were ordered to install safety measures to protect workers if they wanted to remain open.

The HCM City Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority (HEPZA) instructed businesses in industrial parks and export processing zones to strictly comply with regulations and advisories on COVID-19.

More than 1,000 businesses employing 274,600 workers operate in the city’s 17 industrial parks and export processing zones.

Nguyễn Thị Hồng Liên, head of HEPZA’s labour management office, said it ordered businesses to adopt safety measures based on advisories from the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Disease Prevention and Control.

Many businesses such as Samsung, Unilever, Longrich, and Hansea have rescheduled shifts and meal timing to prevent overcrowding and set up safety screens at dining tables to enforce social distancing guidelines, she said. — VNS