As Ho Chi Minh City continues pushing through its worst coronavirus outbreak to date, which has given rise to a wide-scale dearth of groceries, several vehicles in the urban bus fleets have been mobilized as food stores on wheels to cater to city residents’ demand. On Monday, Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Industry and Trade, in cooperation with bus operator Bao Yen Group, put their mobile grocery store initiative to the test by mobilizing two bus vehicles to sell veggies in various neighborhoods. The pilot run of these veggie busses continued on Wednesday, with one of the buses pulling up around 9:00 am in front of Nguyen Binh Khiem Elementary School in District 1, where it was welcomed by a queue of local residents. On the vehicle, a row of passenger seats had been removed to make space for its stock of veggies and rice. In June and early July, Ho Chi Minh City emerged as the country’s gravest outbreak site, with caseloads rising steeply by the thousands, prompting …
Ho Chi Minh City records month’s second-largest daily coronavirus infection rise
Ho Chi Minh City logged more than 3,500 domestic coronavirus cases on Wednesday, when over 5,300 infections were found in the community across Vietnam. The city reported 3,556 locally-infected patients, which is the second-biggest daily case increase this month, according to the Ministry of Health's data. It detected a record high of 4,692 infections on July 18. The southern Vietnamese economic hub has documented 41,343 since the nation was hit by the fourth and worst virus wave on April 27. The health ministry confirmed 36 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, including 32 in Ho Chi Minh City, two in Long An Province, and two in Dong Thap Province. The agency reported 5,357 local cases in 35 provinces and cities the same day, 1,081 of which were found in the community while the rest were in centralized quarantine centers or isolated areas. Binh Duong Province, an industrial park hub just outside Ho Chi Minh City, accounted for 964 of the infections. Dong Nai Province, …
Ho Chi Minh City to step up Directive 16 pandemic measures after July 23
COVID-19 measures in Ho Chi Minh City under Directive 16 will most likely be strengthened after July 23 On July 21, Phan Van Mai, the standing Deputy Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, revealed three scenarios issued by the city after 15 days of social distancing. Specifically, in case the pandemic is controlled, the implementation of Directive 16 will be reviewed. However, if the pandemic continues to spread, the directive will continue to be implemented with even stronger measures. Lastly, if the pandemic situation turns to the worse, the city will have to consider even stricter lockdown regulations. The deputy secretary added that the number of positive cases has been increasing so far, adding that the pandemic has probably not reached its peak yet and multiple hardships wait down the road. He stated that the second scenario is the most likely to take place. Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control is also preparing solutions to …
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Ho Chi Minh City starts week-long disinfection amid rising COVID-19 cases
Vietnam’s economic hub Ho Chi Minh City has entered the first day of the seven-day decontamination throughout the city as an effort to curb increasing coronavirus spread that has recently caused thousands of infections every day. The Ho Chi Minh City Command, in conjunction with two chemical engineering units from the 7th Military Region and the Army’s Chemical Corps, has arranged two sanitization teams and 16 specialized vehicles for the disinfection. Binh Chanh District and Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City have been the first target locations for the week-long disinfection that started on Friday morning. Around six tons of chloramine B will be used for the fumigation, the Ho Chi Minh City Command said. The Command asked all of its units in 21 districts and Thu Duc City to closely coordinate with local administrations to ensure order and safety for the sanitization. Along with street disinfection by the two teams, it is necessary to develop plans to sterilize residential …
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Ho Chi Minh City kicks off fifth phase of COVID-19 vaccination with 930,000 jabs
Ho Chi Minh City has started its fifth immunization phase for residents belonging to designated priority groups, with a target of administering 930,000 jabs from three brands. The fifth vaccination phase commenced on Thursday morning at 615 immunization points and is expected to last for two to three weeks, said the municipal Department of Health. Among the vaccine doses used in this phase, 235,000 were produced by Moderna, 55,000 by Pfizer and BioNTech, and the rest by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. This inoculation phase is intended for 15 priority groups, with residents aged 65 and older, as well as people with underlying health conditions, such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, being asked to receive jabs at hospitals while others have been directed to vaccination points throughout the city. Up to 200 people are expected to be immunized per day at each point during the phase, and each ward or commune is required to arrange at …
First flight carries 197 returners from Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Dinh
This is the first flight under the plan of bringing one thousand residents of Binh Dinh Province home from pandemic-hit Southern provinces. The functional forces mobilized ten buses along with official and police vehicles to support the picking up and dropping off those people to quarantine facilities. Chairman of the People’s Committee of Binh Dinh Province Nguyen Phi Long was at the airport to welcome the first returners. The leader of Binh Dinh Province said that the local authorities have recently directed relevant departments and agencies, especially the provincial Military Command and Department of Health to consult them on the overall plan of bring home residents of Binh Dinh from Ho Chi Minh City with a target of ensuring absolute safety for them. Chairman of the People’s Committee of Binh Dinh Province Nguyen Phi Long was at the airport to welcome the first returners. At the isolation areas, the Binh Dinh Province Military Command and Department of Health are …
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Hundreds leave Ho Chi Minh City as Covid-19 outbreak spreads
Many people have left HCM City for their homes in Quang Ngai Province as the city is still under strict lockdown for Covid-19 prevention. Filling in medical declaration forms On July 22, Lieutenant Duong Hien Cong Luc, head of the traffic police team in Duc Pho, Quang Ngai Province, said the number of people returning from southern provinces, especially HCM City, by personal vehicles had surged in the past three days. On July 21 alone, the team at the checkpoint at Binh De Pass reported over 300 returnees. The team worked hard to regulate the traffic, guided people to fill in medical declaration forms and ensured preventive measures. The police in Quang Ngai sent many trucks to carry hundreds of the returnees' motorbikes to gathering places for disinfection. The returnees will recover their vehicles after their quarantine periods or ask their families to keep the vehicles. Nguyen Thi Than, who returned from HCM City, said due to Covid-19 and social distancing, …
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Inter-Mekong Delta expressway to be shortened
According to the new plan, the expressway will run from Can Tho through Kien Giang Province instead of Soc Trang Province before reaching Ca Mau, the southernmost province in Vietnam. "This option shortens the distance the most, has low construction costs and will have the route mainly pass through agricultural land, which facilitates site clearance," Tran Van Thi, director of My Thuan Project Management Board, assigned by the Ministry of Transport to prepare the plan, said Wednesday. Work is expected to start next year for the project to run nearly 125 kilometers (77.6 miles) with 112 bridges and 13 intersections. With a total investment of nearly VND50 trillion ($2.17 billion), it will start near the borders of Vinh Long Province and Can Tho City, and end in Ho Thi Ky Commune of Ca Mau’s Thoi Binh District. In connecting the delta’s economic center Can Tho with Ca Mau, the expressway would pass through the provinces of Vinh Long, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, and Bac Lieu, boosting …
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HCMC Party Committee adopts more measures to strengthen Directive 16
HCMC Party Chief Nguyen Van Nen (R) pays a visit to an infirmary for treatment of Covid-19 patients (Photo: SGGP) The City Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has just issued Directive No. 12 on strengthening several measures to implement the Prime Minister’s Directive 16 on the prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic in the southern metropolis. Badly, despite city authorities' efforts to implement Directive 16 for the fight against the coronavirus, the Covid-19 epidemic in the southern city has been showing no signs of abatement with an increase in infection cases, especially in the blocked areas and isolation camps. Worse, severe cases and Coronavirus-related deaths have been surging; plus, hospitals have been overloaded because of the fast-spreading Delta variant. Hence, the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee decided to apply more measures to strictly implement Directive 16 aiming to expand more safety areas and control the fast spread of the fatal virus. …
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HCMC launches “mobile markets” on buses
Almost all the bus seats were removed to make room for vegetables and the bus staff who will turn into sellers. The “mobile markets” sell vegetables at a stable price to all the districts in the city to promptly provide for local residents. The bus staff are turned into sellers. The selling and buying activities take place very fast and safely following the Covid-19 prevention and control regulations. Currently, there are two buses operating daily as mobile markets. Each bus carries around 250 kilograms of vegetables of all kinds and travels to two different places from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The vegetable providers were assigned by the City Department of Industry and Trade and the People’s Committees of Wards are responsible for informing local residents of selling sites. By Minh Nghia – Translated by Huyen Huong …
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