All restaurants and cafes must strictly follow regulations on COVID-19 prevention or face closure, said vice chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Ngo Van Quy. He made the statement at a meeting of the city’s Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control on August 17. Starting at midnight on August 19, food and drink shops must arrange seats at least a metre from one another, and the use of partitions is encouraged. Staff must wear masks and take customers’ temperature. Beer pubs are crowded places that pose a lot of infection risks. Hand sanitiser must be available at the places while frequently-contacted objects cleaned regularly. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
The local authority’s order is strictly implemented right on August 19 morning. Social distancing is necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 since restaurants and pubs pose high infection risks. Hoang Duc Hanh, deputy head of Hanoi’s Department of Health, said the city is home to many large and central-level hospitals. A large number of people coming from other provinces for medical examination and treatment have heightened the chance of infection. People’s compliance with disease prevention measures at the moment is not as good as in the previous period, especially in restaurants. As a result, the risk of infection from hospitals and restaurants in the coming days is very high. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
Quy said COVID-19 is still under control in the city. However, if prevention work in hospitals is not good enough, then cross-infection would be a problem. There might be more cases in Hanoi but the risk of a widespread outbreak is not high, he said. The vice chairman of the municipal People’s Committee asked districts and agencies to continue to observe rules on COVID-19 prevention measures. Local residents are advised not to gather in groups of more than 30 in public places and visit the health facilities if they have such symptoms as high fever and difficulty in breathing. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
Hanoi’s authorities on August 18 issued an urgent dispatch, asking for stricter implementation of COVID-19 prevention and control measures following new cases of community transmission discovered in the capital city. Nguyen Sy Truong, vice chairman of the Hanoi Fatherland Front Committee, said localities should be decisive in encouraging people not to go out unless it is really necessary and those who don’t wear masks in public places must be strictly dealt with. The whole community will suffer if just a few people do not comply with disease prevention measures. Preventing the spread of the disease depends largely on people’s awareness. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
The municipal People’s Committee ordered leaders of districts, communes and wards across the city to encourage people to take prevention measures, particularly wearing face masks and not gathering more than 30 in public areas. Those who have underlining diseases, the elderly and at high risk of infection are advised to not go out unless really necessary. All citizens are required to make health declarations when experiencing symptoms of fever, coughing and breathing difficulties and go to the nearest medical establishments for further guidance. The committee requested service providers, restaurants, bars and cafes to implement social distancing for customers by arranging seats at least one metre from one another from 00:00 on August 19. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
All staff at restaurants and cafes are required to wear face masks and measure customers’ temperatures. The municipal Department of Health is required to strengthen preventive measures, enhance contact tracing and testing to prevent further spread of the disease among the community. The capital city has raised its COVID-19 alert level as it is currently at “very high” risk of coronavirus transmission. Earlier, social distancing restriction was eased in Hanoi from April 23 as Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed to downgrade the city from the COVID-19 high-risk group to medium-risk. Some areas of the city like Thuong Tin, Me Linh and places with many infection cases are still classified as high risk and ordered to continue strict social distancing measures. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
It is reported that more than 100,000 people have returned from Da Nang – a COVID-19 hotspot - to Hanoi, including some 77,150 returnees from July 15. The city has carried out quick testing for more than 75,100 people and PCR, a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, testing for 50,602 others. The city is striving to quickly complete the implementation of RT-PCT testing for all people who visited Da Nang and returned to Hanoi from July 15-29 to August 20. Hanoi has recorded 33 COVID-19 cases since July 25. Of those, 10 are local infections and the remaining imported cases who are quarantined upon arrival. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
Staff must wear masks and take customers’ temperature. Hand sanitiser must be available at the places while frequently-contacted objects cleaned regularly. Beer pubs are crowded places that pose a lot of infection risks. Vietnam recorded seven new COVID-19 cases, including one imported, on August 18 morning. The 33-year-old patient living in Hanoi’s Tay Ho district had visited Da Nang city for a holiday on July 22-25 and had been self-quarantining at home. She tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 on August 17 and is being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Disease No.2 in Hanoi’s Dong Anh district. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
The capital city of Hanoi is striving to quickly complete the implementation of RT-PCT testing for all people who visited Da Nang and returned to Hanoi from July 15-29 to August 20. Earlier on August 11, Hanoi authorities and health officials received 50,000 COVID-19 sample collection kits worth 5 billion VND (214,676 USD) as a gift from the Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk). These kits will help the capital speed up the collection of samples of all locals returning from Da Nang city, the latest pandemic hotspot. Hanoi is making all-out efforts to contain the disease and has highlighted the importance of assistance from businesses, particularly Vinamilk, to such efforts. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
Local authority said as the city recorded infection cases in the past days, PCR tests for the disease must be conducted even if the number of tests can reach hundreds of thousands. Only this testing method can confirm whether a person is negative or positive for SARS-CoV-2. Local hospitals are ordered to carry out timely PCR tests for any people returning from pandemic-hit areas and having cough or fever so that patients won’t have to visit different hospitals like a recent case in Bac Tu Liem district because the later they are detected, the more virus from them could spread to others. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
On August 6, the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control convened a meeting at which Secretary of the city’s Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue requested the activation of all prevention and control systems. Priority was given to contact tracing, cracking down on illegal immigration, conducting large-scale testing, and assessing local capacity and demand for equipment. He also ordered that relevant agencies safely organise the national high school graduation examinations, which were scheduled for August 8-10, and remaining district-level Party congresses before August 18. The city was also set to prepare human and capital resources to support Da Nang and Quang Nam province in their fight against the pandemic. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
To contain the spread of COVID-19, the capital city administration has regulated penalties for 13 types of violation related to the disease prevention and control. Notably, any people who do not wear face masks at public places will be fined up to 300,000 VND (13 USD). Those improperly dispose of used face masks at public places will be fined a maximum of 5 million VND, or up to 7 million VND if they litter pavements or roads with discarded face masks. Besides, those hiding the COVID-19 status of themselves or others will face fines of up to 2 million VND. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
The city has done well in containing the pandemic in the first and second phases, but it is facing certain difficulties at present. On August 6, a meeting of the municipal Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control unveiled that Hanoi is facing difficulties purchasing medical equipment for testing. All medical facilities in the capital are capable of testing between 9,000 and 10,000 samples a day. Local authorities and health department have asked philanthropists to donate kits for Real-time – PRC tests. In this context, the support of organisations, businesses and philanthropists is valuable. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
Failing to wear masks in public places, reporting inaccurate health statuses or evading quarantine are just some actions that could result in heavy fines or even a criminal trial. As authorities are crack down on the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanoi’s Justice Department released in April a list of 13 instances where offenders could end up in trouble. Earlier, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung ordered that starting April 4, law enforcement forces will start patrolling the streets and fine people going out in public without justified reasons like buying food or medicine, working at essential businesses or service suppliers, or going to the hospital. However, during the first days the two-week order went into effect, the forces have mainly focused on reminding people of the new rules. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
Deputy director of the Hanoi Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Truong Quang Viet said some people had lowered their guard and ignored prevention measures. Inspections by the CDC found mask-wearing and disinfection measures in offices had not been implemented thoroughly. Some offices had not devised a response plan if an infection is detected in the workplace. The COVID-19 was still under control in the city; however, if prevention work in hospitals is not good enough, then cross-infection will be a problem. There might be more cases in Hanoi but the risk of a widespread outbreak is not high, he said. Therefore, districts and agencies should continue to observe rules on COVID-19 prevention measures. (Photo: VietnamPlus) 
During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 2,600 household businesses in Hanoi had to shut down, and 6,400 others suspended operation, an increase of 22 percent and 37.8 percent year-on-year, respectively. As enterprises in Hanoi are bearing brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hanoi’s Department of Taxation has been providing support policies to help the business community cope with the situation, including waiving, lowering and extending tax payment. Beneficiaries entitled to those supports are businesses, organisations, individuals, and household businesses in the fields of agro-forestry-fishery, food processing, textile, electronics and computers production, automobile, transportation, accommodation, tourism, and catering services, among others. (Photo: VietnamPlus) VNA
