HCMC expands mobility list amid Covid-19 restrictions

As decided by the city’s administration Monday, each vocational college will be given 10 permits so staffers could go out in rotation.

Other additional groups on the list are: delivery staff of businesses operating under the stay-at-work model; autos transporting goods (with a driver and assistant) that have been provided with a QR code by transport authorities; medics and those working at healthcare facilities that have medical badges or travel passes issued by the Department of Health and heads of medical facilities; people going to get vaccinated (they must show SMS messages, emails or papers with vaccination schedules and their ID); employees of goods distribution system including supermarkets, convenience stores and food supply stores (they must show employee cards and work confirmation of their units).

Also allowed to be out on the streets are employees of units managed by Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Cat Lai Port, task forces of the municipal Communist Youth Union and Women’s Union; vendors at traditional markets still allowed to operate; people returning to their home cities and provinces following plans of those localities; garbage collectors of private units; and forces in charge of managing plants and animals.

Starting Monday, the city launched a new campaign lasting 15 days to tighten its coronavirus restrictions, requiring people to "stay where they are," isolating homes from homes, streets from streets and wards from wards.

For the campaign, the city had announced last Sunday to issue travel permits for just 11 groups to perform their functions outdoors other than members of the steering committee for epidemic prevention and control.

For almost two months now, Ho Chi Minh City has been the epicenter of Vietnam’s fourth coronavirus wave, which emerged four months ago.

The city has so far recorded 180,245 local cases and 6,878 deaths.

With a population of 13 million including migrants, HCMC has undergone a series of social distancing orders, with the latest extended until Sept. 15. People are also banned from going out between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next day, except in certain cases like medical emergencies.

The government has said it wants the city, the nation’s biggest and economic hub, to bring the coronavirus situation under control by Sept. 15.