HCMC dismisses rumors of city lockdown

VGP – The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has dismissed speculation on social medial that the authorities are poised to announce a total lockdown across the city to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 26, 2020 4:47 PM GMT+7

The municipal People’s Committee confirmed on March 26 that this was not accurate.

As the largest city in Viet Nam, HCMC has mobilized all resources to prevent community transmission of COVID-19 while asking local residents to stop disseminating inaccurate information and update information via official channels.

Earlier, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said that the next two weeks would be the decisive time to prevent the virus transmission to communities.

Last week municipal authorities ordered restaurants with capacity of 30 people and more to temporarily close due to rising number of COVID-19 infection cases during the past 17 days.

Beauty salons, barber shops, and billiards clubs were also ordered to temporarily shut down.

On March 15, the country’s economic locomotive had ordered dance clubs, bars, karaoke, massage parlors, cinema, and gaming facilities to suspend operations in order to contain the spread of the virus.

The city has reported 30 COVID-19 infection cases so far and three of them have recovered and exited hospitals./.

By Kim Loan