HCMC – The HCMC government is set to extend the stay-at-home order after August 15 and will announce its official execution plan this Sunday, heard a Covid-19-related press briefing this morning, August 13.
Addressing the meeting, Phan Van Mai, permanent deputy secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, said the city is looking to bring the current outbreak under control by September 15. At the central Government’s request, the city is mapping out a plan to combat the disease.
Mai added that the city will continue assessing the transmission risk of the coronavirus citywide and divide them into safe and vulnerable zones, so that the city can take appropriate social distancing measures.
As the trajectory of the pandemic is still unpredictable, the stay-at-home mandate could prolong. The city will spare no effort to contain the disease by September 15, he said.
Earlier, the municipal government decided to impose the citywide stay-at-home order under the Prime Minister’s Directive 16 for another 14 days starting August 2.
From May 31, the city began social distancing under Directive 15 in 15 days, while Go Vap District and District 12’s Thanh Loc Ward had to implement the shelter-in-place requirements under Directive 16.
However, as new infection clusters in the community kept rising, the city’s chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong then decided to extend the social distancing under Directive 15 for another two weeks, from June 15 to 29.
On June 19, the authorities issued Directive 10 tightening anti-virus measures in the city. It suspended local makeshift markets and passenger transport services and other services until now
By July 9, the southern city as the current biggest coronavirus hotspot switched to implementing the stay-at-home mandate under Directive 16 for 15 days.
Since the pandemic showed no signs of abating, on July 22, Nguyen Van Nen, secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, signed Directive 12 intensifying the implementation of Covid-19 control measures.
On the following day, HCMC Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong signed a dispatch tightening social distancing measures under Directive 16.
Up to now, HCMC has reported over 137,000 infections in the latest outbreak, which struck the country in late April.
