HO CHI MINH CITY TEMPORARY CLOSES PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES

Deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem on March 14 signed an urgent document requiring local authorities to temporary stop all public entertainment facilities such as cinemas, pubs, online gaming shops, massage parlours, karaoke clubs, discotheques, and theatres in all 24 districts of the city starting from 6pm today (March 15).

This decision was made under a proposal from Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports to limit the gathering of large crowds to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

Accordingly, the People's Committee ordered the temporary suspension of all entertainment facilities mentioned above from 6pm on March 15 until the end of March 31.

Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee assigned the Department of Culture and Sports, the Department of Health, and other related departments, as well as the People's Committees of districts to monitor, inspect, and take charge of the implementation of the decision.

Earlier, at an online briefing between Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, People's Committee, and districts’ Party Committees on March 12, Tran Kim Yen, Party Secretary of District 1, proposed the committee to suspend public entertainment facilities.

"Those facilities make for quite a favorable environment for spreading the disease. We propose suspending them to contain the epidemic until the epidemic is over," Yen proposed.

Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Nguyen Thien Nhan approved the suspension but required related authorities to safeguard the local residents while keeping other business as usual.

As of March 14, Ho Chi Minh City had six positive cases for COVID-19, three of whom (two Chinese nationals and an overseas Vietnamese) were successfully treated and recovered. The remaining three cases are being quarantined and treated, including one Vietnamese person living in London who had met Patient 17, and two Vietnamese people living in Ho Chi Minh City who had met Patient 34. Currently, Vietnam has 53 positive cases for COVID-19, with the first 16 patients successfully cured.

Source: VIR