HCMC – The HCMC government last night, August 29, issued an urgent dispatch allowing delivery drivers in extremely high-risk Covid areas, including Thu Duc City and seven districts, to get back to work starting today, provided they undergo a daily rapid Covid test.
These delivery men are among those included in a list compiled by the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade and have received at least one shot of the Covid vaccine, reported the local media.
The municipal government required these delivery people to take a rapid Covid test on a daily basis from 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. The tests will be conducted by military medics at pop-up healthcare stations in the city.
According to the city’s authorities, delivery drivers will not be charged for the test for one week. After that, the city will work out more appropriate testing plans.
As for the delivery workers in the remaining 14 districts, they can continue work and have to get at least one Covid vaccine dose as well as have a negative rapid test result. However, they will take a rapid test every two days. The tests will also be carried out by military medics at mobile health stations until September 6.
Further, delivery drivers are allowed to operate in one district or in Thu Duc City.
The HCMC Police and the Department and Industry and Trade were told to regularly monitor the operations of delivery drivers and their compliance with regulations during the social distancing period. Any violator would be tackled.
The municipal government also said in the dispatch that the city’s Police Department will grant an additional 20,000 travel permits to the staff of retail chains through the Department of Industry and Trade, aimed at supplementing personnel to assist with the preparation of orders and goods combo packs to serve local residents during the stay-at-home period.
The staff of retail chains must ensure they have received at least one Covid vaccine dose and have a negative Covid test which is required to be conducted every two days, in line with the Ministry of Health’s regulations until September 6. Also, retailers have to make arrangements for their staff to work in shifts.
Earlier, the municipal Department of Industry and Trade proposed that delivery drivers who had been administered at least one Covid vaccine shot from August 13 can resume operations during the stay-at-home mandate.
