Directive No. 10/CT-UBND Ho Chi Minh City strengthening measures to prevent COVID-19

DIRECTIVE

On tightening and strengthening measures to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic in Ho Chi Minh City

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Since April 27, 2021, the City has recorded a total of 1,346 infected cases with many chains of infections. The most noticeable feature of this pandemic breakout is that the Delta variant strongly spreads among family members, residential areas, workplaces, especially office buildings, apartment buildings, and frozen food processing facilities. The transmission from families to workplaces and vice versa has made the pandemic spread very quickly and widely in the City. That many infected cases still remain undetected in the community, and several cases were tested positive through active screening tests at the clinics, and the infected cases are still undetectably increasing in the community alongside those of infection chains which were already put under control.

In the coming time, as the pandemic has seen complicated developments and its daily count of new cases has increased to three digits over the last several days and there are cases that have no obvious infection sources, more infections are expected to be recorded in the community.

In order to quickly control the COVID-19 pandemic in the City and return life to normal soon, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee hereby requests the heads of departments and agencies, and the Chairpersons of the People's Committees of Thu Duc city and other districts to tighten and strengthen the key measures as follows:

1. Strictly implement the directions of the municipal People’s Committee mentioned in the Official Dispatch No. 1749/UBND-VX dated May 30, 2021, Official Dispatch No. 1931/UBND-VX dated June 14, 2021, Official Dispatch No. 1931/UBND-VX dated June 14, 2021, Official Dispatch No. 1948/UBND-VX dated June 16, 2021 and further strengthen the following measures:

- Suspend all non-essential businesses and services as well as temporary street markets.

- Ban the gatherings of more than three people in public places and outside offices, schools, and hospitals while people must strictly observe the Ministry of Health’s 5K rules and maintain a minimum distance of 1.5 meters in public places; individuals and organizations who violate the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control regulations shall be strictly sanctioned. The Chairpersons of the People's Committees of Thu Duc city and other districts shall take accountability to the municipal People’s Committee if there are gatherings of more than 03 people in public places and outside offices, schools, and hospitals.

- Request local residents to refrain from going outside, except for food, medicine, emergency care, or working at factories or workshops, or otherwise guided by the Department of Health. All people should voluntarily comply with the pandemic prevention and control requirements and measures, actively make voluntary medical declarations, and protect themselves and their families.

- Establishments manufacturing and providing essential goods and services for the City’s residents as well as factories and workshops are allowed to operate, but they must ensure a safe distance of at least 1.5 meters between every two employees, all employees must wear face masks at work, and the workplaces must be disinfected and well-ventilated. Heads of enterprises, goods production and business establishments, and service providers shall be responsible for applying pandemic prevention and control measures at their units and establishments, ensuring absolute health and safety for their employees; the People's Committees of Thu Duc city and other districts shall strengthen inspection of pandemic prevention and control at local traditional markets and suspend the traditional markets that do not meet the requirements for pandemic prevention and control.

- State agencies and units must ensure social distancing at work; all companies, enterprises, corporations, including foreign-invested companies, shall minimize in-person activities and allow their employees to work online, only go to the offices to do really necessary jobs but strictly comply with the 5K rules of the Ministry of Health.

- Cancel unimportant meetings. If in-person meetings and events are required, they should gather no more than 10 people, except for particularly important meetings that are permitted by the local authorities, but they must strictly comply with 5K rules of the Ministry of Health.

2. Impose isolation and lockdown for very high-risk and high-risk areas to control the pandemic situation in localities.

3. State agencies and units shall allow cadres, civil servants, and public employees to use information technology to work from home; only cases of absolutely necessity, such as performing combat duties or pandemic prevention and control duties, standing agency watches, providing essential goods and services, processing confidential documents and other necessary tasks as required, shall be allowed to work at office.

The number of people working at office shall be decided by the heads of agencies and units and must not exceed half of the total staff so as to ensure both fulfillment of the units’ tasks and accordance with the directions of the City. Particularly, the armed forces and the City's health sector shall request 100% of their staff to stay on-duty. The heads of agencies and units shall be responsible for assigning and arranging cadres, civil servants, and employees to participate in the forces against the COVID-19 pandemic at all levels in accordance with their working requirements.

Heads of agencies and units, based on their working programs, shall make specific assignments to ensure the completion of their tasks in 2021.

Speed up the processing of dossiers through online public services at levels 3 and 4; temporarily not receive dossiers directly submitted by the citizens and businesses (except for special cases decided by the head of each agency or unit).

The heads shall take accountability to the Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee if they do not fulfill their duties and take the responsibility for the transmission of the disease among their cadres and employees due to the failure to strictly observe the regulations on pandemic prevention and control at office.

4. The Department of Transport shall

- Halt public passenger transportation (road, inland waterway), minimize travelling of the citizens in accordance with the directions of the municipal People’s Committee.

- Allow cases of transporting foods and necessities, shuttling workers and experts of enterprises, and transporting production raw materials to operate as normal, but they must ensure the pandemic prevention and control.

- Coordinate with the City’s Labor Federation to guide and supervise the shuttles of workers and employees of workshops and factories in accordance with the recommendations of the health sector.

5. The Department of Health shall

- Provide specific guidelines for other cases in Section 1 above.

- Enhance testing capacity, including conducting mass screening testing at high-risk areas (export processing zones, industrial parks, and high-tech zones); coordinate with the City's health agencies and central units stationed in the City to conduct testing by various methods with the target to collect about 500,000 samples for testing per day.

- Strengthen the inspection and supervision of the prevention and control of transmission in medical examination and treatment establishments, lockdown areas, and quarantine zones as well as the collection of samples for testing.

- Continue strengthening thorough medical investigation, contact tracing, zoning, and stamping out the pandemic, expanding testing in high-risk areas to find and cut off the sources of infection; conduct rapid screening testing right at the areas where the infected cases are detected, conducting confirmatory testing on people with close contact with infected cases after their rapid testing results come out.

- Quickly carry out the procurements of medical equipment and supplies, especially ventilators, patient monitors, infusion machines, and dialysis machines, so that medical facilities do not lack medical equipment for emergency care and treatment of patients.

- Develop plans, scenarios, and response capabilities for pandemic emergencies, and report them to the municipal People's Committee; expand the concentrated quarantine zones of the City.

- Accelerate the vaccination as planned for the right subjects to ensure safety in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

- The Department of Health shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications in, implementing a management system for COVID-19 vaccination.

6. The Department of Information and Communications shall

- Promote dissemination of information to all walks of people in the City to raise public awareness and their sense of self-protection.

- Set up a Technology Working Group with the participation of the Department of Health to coordinate with the National Technology Center for Covid-19 Prevention and Control to advise on measures to apply information technology in the pandemic prevention and control in the City.

- Strengthen the application of solutions to manage electronic medical declarations and support epidemiological investigation by QR code.

- Advise its upper levels on the application of information technology measures in monitoring people undergoing at-home quarantine.

- Advise its upper levels on the process of receiving people's complaints about violations of the COVID-19 prevention and control regulations using technological solutions, and transferring them to localities for handling in the shortest time.

- Guide the agencies and units, and their staff to use information technology to perform their tasks online and work from home.

- Strictly handle acts of sharing false information and causing public anxiety, which adversely affects the City's pandemic prevention and control.

7. The Department of Industry and Trade shall

- Ensure the supply of essential goods and foods for the citizens in all situations; implement online ordering, home delivery and social distancing when shopping at supermarkets.

- Coordinate with the Department of Health in providing guidelines on handling, disinfecting, isolating suspected cases, and working in shifts or working groups, as well as the mandatory conditions for businesses, which have been temporarily suspended due to the contact with the infections, to return to normal operations soon.

8. The municipal Police Department, the People's Committees of Thu Duc city and other districts shall

Enhance their directions to ensure security and order, prevent crimes, strictly handle violations of security and order and violations of the pandemic prevention and control.

9. The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall

Check and gather homeless, wandering, and orphaned people staying in public places to the Social Support Center of the City to manage, control and protect them from the pandemic.

10. The Ho Chi Minh City Command shall coordinate with the Department of Health to arrange and expand the City's concentrated quarantine zones.

11. The Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the City and the socio-political organizations should coordinate with functional agencies in disseminating and mobilizing people from all walks of life to observe and comply with the pandemic prevention and control measures; at the same time, take care of the disadvantaged and ensure social security.

Heads of the Departments, agencies and sectors, Chairpersons of the People's Committees of Thu Duc city and other districts are requested to urgently organize the implementation of this Directive; take accountability to the Chairman of the municipal People's Committee if there are cases not strictly complying with the regulations in their assigned localities and sectors; and promptly report their difficulties and problems to the upper levels./.