Restrictions under article 19

Restaurants in Hanoi are allowed to resume operations with precautionary measures in place. Hanoi authorities will ease Covid-19 restrictions as of 12:00 pm on September 16 for Covid-19 free districts, the municipal People's Committee said in a document issued today [September 15]. A restaurant owner in Hanoi glues a notice for selling take-away only. Photo: The Hanoi Times According to the Hanoi Department of Health’s report, as of September 14, Hanoi has basically put the pandemic under control. Specifically, the number of cases in the community over the past three weeks has tended to decrease. The capital city has finished testing its entire population through large-scale screening and has administered the first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for all people aged over 18. There remains only one district at very high-risk of coronavirus infection (Thanh Xuan), two districts at high-risk (Hoang Mai and Dong Da), nine at-risk districts (Ba Dinh, Gia Lam, Hai …

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In the past Sakuko, which has been selling household items and baby products for 10 years in Vietnam, used to receive its containers of goods from Japan in just one or two weeks. But now it takes one or two months. The rising demand for transportation as the global economy recovers from the pandemic has caused a shortage of containers, and the resurgence of Covid in some countries has led to congestion at ports. "We have to keep booking and rebooking until we find a ship that has slots," a Sakuko spokesperson said. "Transportation takes a long time due to a shortage of ships." Besides, shipping costs have risen by 60-100 percent from pre-pandemic levels. When its containers do arrive, the company faces more transport restrictions. The port city of Hai Phong has been keeping out people coming from Hanoi due to fear of contagion, and so there has been a shortage of truck drivers. "It takes several weeks to transport the containers to Hanoi," the spokesperson said. …

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Vietnam’s GDP growth may reach 3.5-4% this year in case the pandemic is contained in September. Once the pandemic is contained, Vietnam’s economy would soon recovery thanks to the solid economic performance in the first half of 2021, said World Bank’s Senior Economist Dorsati Madani. A garment factory in Hanoi. Photo: Thanh Hai Madani added in light of multiple challenges and risks from the pandemic, the economy has shown its resilience and dynamic over time, referring to the country alongside China as a handful of economies posting positive growth in 2020. According to the economist, the steady recovery of major economies such as the US, China, and EU, which are also Vietnam’s major export markets, would be instrumental for Vietnam’s economic recovery. In the latest Vietnam’s macro-economy report, the World Bank noted the vaccination campaign is a critical priority at the moment to cover at least 70% of the adult population. “The government should use …

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A food joint opened for delivery/takeaway orders on September 6 in Gia Lâm District, considered one of the COVID-19 free areas. — VNA/VNS Photo HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội on Wednesday allowed restaurants and food and drink establishments to reopen for delivery, starting 12:00 noon Thursday, but only in districts that have recorded no community COVID-19 cases since September 6. The establishments are also required to close before 9pm every day. 19 districts and townships – Ba Đình, Ba Vì, Bắc Từ Liêm, Cầu Giấy, Đan Phượng, Gia Lâm, Hoài Đức, Long Biên, Mê Linh, Mỹ Đức, Nam Từ Liêm, Phú Xuyên, Phúc Thọ, Quốc Oai, Sóc Sơn, Sơn Tây, Thanh Oai, Ứng Hoà, and Tây Hồ – are at a ‘new normal’ level, or have no community cases since September 6, according to the official list from the health department late Wednesday. This is part of the urgent document regulating COVID-19 prevention and control measures in the capital city signed by the Chairman of Hà Nội …

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A local woman is inoculated in the Philippines. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) Manila (VNA) - The Philippines has secured enough COVID-19 vaccine doses to inoculate 100 million people by the end of this year, according to the country's Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. Dominguez said on September 14 that the vaccines financed and ordered by the government totaled 121.13 million doses as of September 12. Another 50.12 million doses are from donations by its bilateral partners and the country's share in the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX), while local governments and the private sector procured 24.12 million doses. The Philippines has administered more than 39 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. More than 17 million people have been fully vaccinated so far. The capital Manila is expected to ease large-scale restrictions from September 16 under the Philippine Government's pilot scheme of localised social distancing in the capital. The localised social distancing will …

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A newborn baby and mother head home after recovering from COVID-19 in Đà Nẵng. — Photo courtesy of Trần Ngọc ĐÀ NẴNG — Two newborn babies who contracted COVID-19 from their mothers have made a full recovering after just a week in hospital. And four other children, under the age of four, have also been declared coronavirus-free after treatment in the central city of Đà Nẵng. Director of the city’s Hoà Vang health centre, Dr Nguyễn Đại Vĩnh said the two babies, both boys, tested negative before going home for quarantine and medical checks on Monday. Vĩnh said the two mothers – who both been had infected with SARS-COV-2 – gave birth on September 7-8 at the field hospital. He said three other boys under four years old, and a one-year girl all tested negative after two weeks at the hospital. They need two more weeks home quarantine under medical supervision. Earlier, a newborn baby and mother were also declared healthy and released from the …

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Starting Thursday inter-district delivery services will be allowed between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. Delivery persons had hitherto not been allowed to cross borders. Businesses can again use their own delivery staff and no longer have to exclusively use shipping companies. However, they can only do so within their district and their delivery workers need to be tested every two days for Covid. Late last month delivery companies were allowed to resume operations in eight districts earlier designated high-risk. Deliverymen are tested for the new coronavirus in HCMC's Go Vap District, August 31, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran Also from Thursday people living in ‘green zones,’ as areas with low risk are called, can go walking and do other exercises in public places though they must wear masks and keep a distance from others. People can check the status of their area at bando.tphcm.gov.vn . Outdoor physical exercises had been banned in the city since July 9 when it …

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Residents in other districts will have to continue to rely on military personnel and municipal authorities to do their groceries shopping for them until the end of the month, city authorities announced Wednesday. Small parks in "green" areas where the disease is considered to be under control can be opened with social distancing maintained, but big parks like Le Van Tam, Tao Dan and Ban Nguyet Lake will remain closed. The city will try out a "green Covid-19 card" on an app in the three districts before applying it to the whole city. The app will contain Covid-19 related information so users do not need to carry the relevant paperwork. Shippers are allowed to work from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and can travel inter-district, but they must test Covid-19 negative once every two days. Businesses that are allowed to operate from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. include postal services, computer stores, stationary stores, eateries and coffee shop, with the last two only allowed to provide takeaway services. …

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Three apartment buildings in Hanoi’s Hoang Mai District have been locked down after many local residents tested positive for Covid-19. The buildings A1, A4 and A5 in the Den Lu apartment building area have found 15 Covid-19 patients. A5 building has been locked down for Covid-19 prevention The first case was a 61-year-old woman at A5 building. On September 8, she felt tired and tested positive for Covid-19 three days later. On September 12, three more people at this building also tested positive for the virus. Between September 13-14, 11 more Covid-19 patients were confirmed at A1 and A4 buildings. In response, local authorities have decided to isolate the three buildings for tracing people who had close contact with the patients. A representative from Hoang Van Thu Ward said to date, the cause of the Covid-19 infection in the area had not yet been defined. Hanoi authorities have locked down a residential area with 1,330 people in Tho Quan Ward in Dong Da …

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Volunteers were given the second shot as part of the second phase of the human trial of the domestically-produced Covivac Covid-19 vaccine on September 15. Covivac Covid-19 vaccine concludes phase II clinical trial Vu Dinh Thiem from the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology said the volunteers had been given the first shot on August 18. A total of 374 volunteers were administered the first shot in the second phase. "We already gave the second shot to 56 volunteers on the morning of September 15. Their health was stable," he said. "We hope to administer the second shot to all volunteers from now until September 20." For the second shot, the volunteers were divided into three groups. The first group have been given a 3μg dose and the second group have been given a 6μg dose. The last group will be given AstraZeneca for compatibility and safety. The second phase will continue to test the vaccine's safety, how well the vaccine works and the type of immune …

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