Four Binh Duong districts ease social distancing rule

Phu Giao, Bau Bang, and Bac Tan Uyen districts have switched from imposing Directive 16 to Directive 15, or a measure between the two.

Directive 15 requires suspension of social events, bans gatherings of 20 people or more in one place and of 10 people or more outside workplaces, schools and hospitals. A minimum distance of two meters between people in public places should be ensured.

Directive 16 requires people to stay home and only go out for basic necessities like buying food or medicines or to work where allowed.

The entire Dau Tieng District is now put under Directive 15. Restaurants and eateries are allowed to provide takeout and delivery services but cannot host clientele.

The move came after these districts had successfully brought their Covid-19 outbreaks under control.

From now until Thursday, people in the four districts would be allowed to move around internally, while the province mulls whether they could enter other districts should the outbreak quiet down.

Binh Duong, neighboring Ho Chi Minh City and home to the nation’s major industrial complexes, has been the second-worst hit locality just after the southern metropolis in the fourth Covid-19 wave that hit Vietnam in late April.

The province has recorded 132,433 community cases so far in the wave and 1,097 fatalities, as confirmed by the Ministry of Health, and has been put under Directive 16 since July 19.

It has vaccinated 1.2 million with the first dose and more than 46,000 with both.