A person being tested for SARS-CoV-2. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội will apply stricter surveillance and management measures for arrivals from HCM City and other pandemic-affected regions from today.

In an official dispatch, the chairman of the Hà Nội People’s Committee’s Chairman, Chu Ngọc Anh, requested that relevant agencies apply mandatory COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures. This includes monitoring and managing all people coming from pandemic-hit regions.

The measures, to take effect from 6pm on July 7, state that all people who arrive in Hà Nội from HCM City and other pandemic-hit provinces must complete medical declarations and self-quarantine at home for 7 days per the Ministry of Health’s guidelines. This excludes those who took State business trips and complied with all pandemic prevention measures.

Furthermore, those returning from pandemic areas must be tested three times on the first day, the third day and the sixth day from the date they arrive in Hà Nội, then self-monitor their health for seven days.  If there are symptoms like signs of fever, cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing or loss of taste, among others, they must immediately notify the nearest local authority or medical facility for guidance.

Hà Nội has also strengthened its control over all transport activities by minimising public passenger transport from and to pandemic areas.

The city's police have been asked to co-operate with the Department of Transport, and the People's committees in small districts and towns to strengthen the operation of checkpoints at piers, inter-provincial bus stations, and mobile checkpoints at the gateway routes to and from the capital.

People have also been requested to minimise travel to pandemic hit areas. For those who have to go for work at agencies, organisations, industrial parks, that are based in HCM City and other pandemic prone areas, they must have approval from the authorities and must strictly comply with pandemic prevention and control regulations.

Furthermore, Hà Nội authorities have also asked local authorities to ensure they are enforcing COVID-19 prevention and control measures and have been advised to strictly sanction violators. 

The dispatch stated that currently, the pandemic situation across the country is developing rapidly and the number of daily cases is still increasing in some localities such as HCM City and many other southern provinces

In two days from July 5 to 7, Hà Nội recorded 16 community cases of COVID-19, of which many were people coming from HCM City, Bắc Giang, and Nghệ An provinces. — VNS