The HCM City Department of Tourism regularly updates information about hotels used as quarantine facilities for close contacts of COVID-19 patients. VNA/VNS Photo Trần Lê Lâm

HCM CITY— People who are close contacts of COVID-19 cases can book hotels for quarantine at the www.hochiminhcity.gov.vn website of the city Department of Tourism.

Overcrowding is occurring at quarantine facilities in the city as the number of COVID-19 cases has risen, leading to an increased need for quarantine at hotels.   

The department is co-operating with Traveloka Việt Nam to provide information on hotels used as quarantine facilities and their prices as well as unoccupied rooms.

People can book online and pay via the website of www.traveloka.com/vi-vn/promotion/khachsancachly or the Traveloka application, starting on August 1.

This co-operation is part of the programme called HCM City Tourism Sector Joining the Fight against COVID-19.  

The Department of Tourism is working with people’s committees in Thủ Đức City and districts to call on 395 hotels to register as quarantine facilities for COVID-19 patients’ close contacts (called F1). 

Among these, 117 hotels have been approved by the Department of Health. The rest are in the clarification process.  

The department is working with the Department of Health and districts to ask hotels to provide rooms for frontline health workers who need accommodation after working hours to limit transmission risk to their relatives.

At least 164 hotels with 4,541 rooms have provided preferential prices for frontline health workers.

On July 19, the Department of Tourism said that 20 other hotels were providing free accommodations and meals to frontline health workers.

Non-profit Food Bank Việt Nam is collaborating with Ambassador Hotel in District 1 and Bảo Long Hotel in Gò Vấp to provide free accommodation to 210 doctors, nurses and volunteers involved in fighting COVID.

As of July 26, the Ministry of Health had reported 62,906 COVID-19 patients in HCM City since the fourth wave started on April 27.

Among these, 657 cases are using ventilators and 12 others are on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine.

The city has recorded three more clusters in District 10 and Tân Bình, with a total of 37 clusters under strict supervision and rapid localisation.  

According to the city Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, the city has divided the second branch of Psychiatric Hospital in Bình Chánh District into two parts, including one for treatment of people with mental illness. VNS