Avoid excessive COVID-19 measures that disrupt business and production: Gov’t

People from HCM City and neighbouring provinces entering Đồng Nai underwent temperature checks at a checkpoint on Saturday. — VNA/VNS Photo Lê Xuân

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Saturday issued a dispatch to ministries and local authorities on avoiding excessive COVID-19 measures that cause negative impacts on business and production activities.

The dispatch states that a number of localities have implemented social distancing measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, others have carried out measures to manage people returning or arriving from outbreak-hit regions, however, some have “imposed rigid, even extreme measures” that heavily affect business and production, and threaten to cause disruptions to the supply chain on a large scale.

The move came nearly a day after the southern province of Đồng Nai early Friday issued an urgent dispatch requiring all people returning or arriving from HCM City – which is under two-week city-wide social distancing order to contain a large COVID-19 outbreak – to be either quarantined at home or at centralised facilities (fees borne by the quarantined person) starting Saturday.

The sudden requirement caused a significant backlash among the businesses in HCM City and Đồng Nai as there are a large number of labourers and experts travelling between the two neighbouring localities on a daily basis. Đồng Nai on early Saturday issued a revision, dropping the mandatory quarantine for workers, experts and employees who resided in HCM City but worked in Đồng Nai or vice versa.

However, these cases must observe basic COVID-19 prevention and control measures, and the employing companies must register the licence plate of the bus transporting their employees between the two localities to Đồng Nai police, and submit health declaration forms at the checkpoints.

In the cable, the Government leader asked that heads of ministries, State agencies, and local authorities to follow instructions of the Party Secretariat on carrying out the dual goals of both outbreak containment and economic development.

Localities must discuss with each other before implementing any travel restrictions, it stated.

The Ministry of Transport is supposed to coordinate with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in reviewing the organisation of transport activities to and from outbreak-hit places to balance between outbreak containment and ensuring uninterrupted business and production, to promptly correct the application of excessive measures that cause congestion. — VNS