Elbow to elbow: Hanoians ship goods to locked-down neighborhood

Crowds gather at a Covid checkpoint on Cau Dat Street to deliver groceries, food, and medicines to their friends and relatives in the locked-down neighborhood, August 5, 2021.
The entire Chuong Duong Ward of Hoan Kiem District, home to 23,000 residents, has been locked down starting July 31 following the detection of a high-risk coronavirus case.

People are required to queue and have their packages sanitized before handling.

They are also required to prepare packages at home and stand two meters apart to mitigate infection risks, though many flout the rules.

The man in a black shirt tries to cut the line and is warned off by local security personnel.

Packages are not allowed to exceed five kilograms each to assist delivery, with names and addresses mandatory.

A man has his boxes sanitized by a medic.

"My aunt lives in this locked-down area, so I bring her vegetables. But I have no idea about the rule requiring packages to be less than five kiograms," said Quach Ngoc Tien, a Long Bien District resident.

A delivery team ships goods to their destinations.

Motorbikes are ideal to navigate small alleys.

At 10:30 a.m., a man delivering four boxes outside the designated time frame is told to return later.

Many people, coming late, try to convince local officials to deliver their goods, but to no avail.
As of Friday, Hanoi has confirmed 1,877 Covid cases in the current wave. The local authorities have also decided to extend the capital's ongoing Covid-19 social distancing order until August 22.