HCMC relaxes shopping restrictions in three districts

Residents in other districts will have to continue to rely on military personnel and municipal authorities to do their groceries shopping for them until the end of the month, city authorities announced Wednesday.

Small parks in "green" areas where the disease is considered to be under control can be opened with social distancing maintained, but big parks like Le Van Tam, Tao Dan and Ban Nguyet Lake will remain closed.

The city will try out a "green Covid-19 card" on an app in the three districts before applying it to the whole city. The app will contain Covid-19 related information so users do not need to carry the relevant paperwork.

Shippers are allowed to work from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and can travel inter-district, but they must test Covid-19 negative once every two days.

Businesses that are allowed to operate from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. include postal services, computer stores, stationary stores, eateries and coffee shop, with the last two only allowed to provide takeaway services.

HCMC has recorded 309,700 Covid-19 cases in the fourth wave, nearly half of Vietnam’s total. To date, it has undergone over 100 days of social distancing at a various levels.