A truck driver from HCM City has his temperature taken and hands disinfected in Đồng Nai on Saturday morning. The province has eased a 21-day quarantine requirement for experts and workers entering from HCM City who have a “good reason” to visit. Photo vnexpress.net

HCM CITY — Đồng Nai Province authorities have decided to relax their quarantine requirement for experts and workers from HCM City who cannot work from home just a few hours after it took effect at midnight on Friday.

They had earlier ordered that all arrivals, estimated at around 6,000, from the city had to be quarantined for 21 days.

From Saturday afternoon experts and workers from the city can travel to the province as long as they strictly comply with other COVID-19 preventive measures. 

They must present documents from companies saying they have a “good reason” to visit, according to provincial authorities.

The relaxations followed requests from the city government and businesses in both localities who said the quarantine requirement would “cause serious disruption in production and trade between the two localities.” 

Experts and workers can travel by buses provided by their businesses and registered with the police. But at COVID-19 prevention checkpoints in Đồng Nai they will have their body temperature taken and asked for a medical declaration.

“People on the vehicles must strictly comply with the COVID-19 prevention regulations such as wearing a face mask. No more than 50 per cent of a vehicle’s capacity is allowed. Vehicles must be disinfected every day.”  

Experts and workers travelling by personal transport must also comply with COVID prevention measures at checkpoints.

In the case of people who live in HCM City and work in Đồng Nai, or vice versa, but have no pressing need to travel, need to wait until further notice to travel.

They have been asked to work from home.

If they still want to visit Đồng Nai without a “good reason” from their companies, they need to go into the 21-day quarantine. 

Đồng Nai has set up 20 checkpoints on land and two on rivers. It has also prohibited passenger buses and taxis from HCM City from entering.

In response to the province’s quarantine requirement, the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority said it would affect the supply of raw materials and operation of enterprises.

Elsewhere, a number of provinces across the nation have banned or restricted entry for people coming from pandemic hotspots.

Since a fourth wave broke out at the end of April, HCM City has recorded nearly 400 cases, most of them related to the highly contagious variant from the city, especially the Gò Vấp cluster.

The virus has also spread to six southern provinces, Long An, Bình Dương, Đồng Tháp, Tây Ninh, Trà Vinh, and Bạc Liêu. 

The fourth wave has seen more than 5,340 infections in the country, which have taken the total number to more than 7,400, with 52 deaths, as of June 5 afternoon. — VNS