Support mooted for 27,500 pandemic-affected entertainment workers in HCMC

They include 6,700 people from outside the city working in bars, karaoke parlors, beauty salons, massage parlors, entertainment facilities, cinemas, restaurants, wedding centers, pubs, museums, historical relics, fitness centers, sports centers, bus stations and public transportation.

They lost jobs or had their income reduced as "non-essential" services were closed in April as the city implemented social distancing for three weeks to combat the novel coronavirus.

Le Minh Tan, director of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the affected workers should receive a maximum VND1 million ($432) from the city’s fund for Covid-19 pandemic control.

Earlier, Ho Chi Minh City has allocated financial support totaling VN595 billion ($26 million) to 543,345 people hit by Covid-19. They include workers laid off by loss-making businesses, street vendors and teachers at private schools who had no income during months of school closure.

More than 327,000 people lost their jobs in the first half of this year as a result of the pandemic, according to official data.

Around 180,000 people working at nearly 5,000 businesses in the city are likely to be laid off until the end of this year following the resurgence of Covid-19, labor officials warned.

HCMC, which has recorded eight local cases of transmission since July 25, when Covid-19 resurfaced in Vietnam, again banned gatherings of more than 30 people and ordered all bars and dance clubs to close in July.

The city has gone nearly a month without new cases.