A gathering in Hồ Tây (West Lake) area in early May.— VNA/VNS Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — The municipal authority of Hà Nội has agreed to further relax social distancing restrictions on public transport, including on planes, trains, buses and boats, after 25 days of no community transmission cases of COVID-19 reported in Việt Nam.

The instruction was included in an urgent document by Chairman of Hà Nội People's Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung sent to the city’s agencies.

Production, commercial and service establishments were allowed to reopen but had to strictly implement safety measures such as wearing masks and regularly disinfecting hands of both staff and customers.

Shops, shopping malls and supermarkets can open after 9am every day. Restaurants, food and vegetable markets, as well as petrol stations and drug stores can open earlier.

All acts of encroaching on pavements for sale of goods in any form are strictly prohibited.

However, bars and karaoke venues are not yet permitted to reopen until there is a new instruction from the Government, the document said.

Sporting activities are now allowed.

In the document, Chung asked departments, sectors, districts’ People’s Committees and relevant offices to continue measures controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.

The document noted that the city had entered a new phase of pandemic prevention and control while restarting economic development.

All levels, sectors, people and businesses needed to resume normal activities to gradually resume society.

It was necessary to resolutely prevent and control the disease sources from abroad.

All people entering the country must be quarantined for 14 days in centralised quarantine facilities, except in cases of investors, experts and skilled workers who would be given appropriate quarantine measures. This was the responsibility of their sponsors and local health workers to avoid the disease spreading in the community.

Medical checks for passengers at international and inland border gates must be strictly implemented.

Measures to respond to cases of relapse must also be ready.

The COVID-19 committees at all levels continued to maintain rapid response teams to promptly detect and isolate new cases.

Wearing masks in public areas is still required.

Health establishments must ensure pandemic prevention and control measures as per the instructions of the Health Ministry and be ready to receive COVID-19 patients.

Chung also asked People’s committees and relevant offices to remove difficulties for businesses and production establishments and introduce measures to restore domestic tourism, as well as plan to restart the international tourism market at an appropriate time.

The post-pandemic social security measures must be continued in accordance with the Government’s resolution 42/NQ-CP and the Prime Minister’s Decision 15/2020/QĐ-TTg on supporting people facing difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The social security measures must be implemented on the principle of equality, transparency and publicity. — VNS