Police check on a bar in Hoàn Kiếm District, Hà Nội, on July 31, before the closure order went into effect the next morning.  — VNA/VNS Photo Thành Đạt

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội will allow bars, karaoke parlours and discos to reopen from tonight after the city has gone four weeks without new local COVID-19 cases.

Ngô Văn Quý, Vice Chairman of Hà Nội People’s Committee, announced the decision during a meeting on Tuesday, adding that the entertainment venues – shut since August 1 as the city battled a new wave of cases related to Đà Nẵng outbreak – must still comply with COVID-19 prevention and control regulations.

The staff of the venues must wear masks the entire time they work, while customers must fulfil basic hygiene and hand sanitation requirements, Quý said.

He also agreed with the proposal from Hoàn Kiếm District authorities to allow the pedestrian street around Hoàn Kiếm Lake to reopen starting September 18.

Quý said while previous outbreaks in the city had basically been eliminated, the risk of COVID-19 in the city remains significant given its economic and social-cultural hub status, in addition to the expected resumption of international flights to six destinations in Asia – China, China’s Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Cambodia and Laos.

When these flights resume, Hà Nội would receive about 2,000 foreign entries a week so municipal authorities must prepare quarantine facilities to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control, Quý said.

During the city’s upcoming important occasions such as the 1,010th anniversary of the capital city’s foundation and the 66th anniversary of Hà Nội’s liberation (October 10, 1954 – October 10, 2020) – anti-pandemic measures must be carried out to prevent an outbreak, Ngô Thị Thanh Hằng, Vice Secretary of Hà Nội Party Committee ordered. — VNS