Closed bars on Bùi Viện Street, HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — HCM City will keep discos, bars and karaoke parlours closed to ensure safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while other non-essential service business types will resume from Tuesday.

Under a dispatch issued by the Chairman of the city People’s Committee, Nguyễn Thành Phong, on Monday, gyms, wedding venues, indoor sports centres, pubs and beer clubs will be allowed to reopen.

The city leader asked heads of departments, sectors and agencies to localities to continue strictly implementing directions of the Prime Minister, the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control as well as the health ministry and the city in pandemic prevention and control measures, including the “5K message”.

The city leader asked the Department of Information and Communications to strengthen communications on measures to prevent the spreading of COVID-19, especially the “5K message” – khẩu trang (face masks), khử khuẩn (disinfection), khoảng cách (distance), không tụ tập (no gathering) and khai báo y tế (health declaration).

Previously on March 1, tourism sites, markets, malls, museums, libraries, restaurants, and several other types of venues were allowed to open again, but with measures like keeping a two-metre distance between customers and a cap of 30 customers/visitors are in place.

So far, HCM City has seen 210 COVID-19 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, including 68 domestically-transmitted cases. The city has gone 26 days without any new infections. — VNS