Allow non-essential services to reopen; Remove social distancing in classrooms

Pointing out that the country has had no new cases of Covid-19 infection in the community in the past 21 days, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the country is at low risk, which is a good thing. However, the epidemic situation in the world, Asia, and Southeast Asia is complicated.

The Prime Minister emphasized the message: Every citizen and every business must establish a new normal in life and socio-economic activities to gradually return to normal. Promoting economic recovery and nation building is an important priority task that needs to be focused on at all levels and in all sectors. However, we must not be subjective and underestimate the Covid-19 epidemic.

Continue to implement measures to prevent the spread of the disease. If anyone returns from abroad, they must be quarantined for 14 days, except for experts, skilled workers, and investors, who must have appropriate on-site quarantine methods. Absolutely do not let people entering the country spread the disease to the community. Be ready to respond when there are positive cases in the community. Steering committees at all levels maintain rapid response teams, forecast and collect data to detect positive cases and close contacts as quickly as possible, promptly isolate, quarantine, and suppress the epidemic.

Continue to implement mandatory measures to wear masks in public places and on crowded public passenger vehicles, wash hands, and ensure personal hygiene when in contact with crowded places.

Agreeing with the proposal on the field of education and training, the Prime Minister stated that students are not required to wear masks in the classroom, maintain personal hygiene, and wash their hands regularly. Regularly open windows and main doors for ventilation. Schools should increase measures to disinfect surfaces, clean rooms, classrooms, and restrooms; social distancing is not required in the classroom... The education sector and localities have plans to organize the high school graduation exam well, ensuring honesty and objectivity.

Allow non-essential business services to reopen normally, except for dance clubs and karaoke bars, and must ensure disease prevention and control conditions (wearing masks, washing hands with sanitizer).

The Prime Minister also agreed to remove the limit on the number of seats on public transport (planes, buses, trains, ships, etc.) but required passengers to wear masks.

The Prime Minister agreed to allow the organization of some sports activities and events with large crowds, and recommended wearing masks and washing hands with sanitizer.

The health sector continues to improve the capacity of laboratories to identify Covid-19, ensuring all necessary conditions for testing. Continue to monitor and update the epidemic situation and diagnostic techniques/biological products in the world and in Vietnam to adjust testing activities in accordance with epidemic prevention and control work.

Continue to research treatment regimens, develop guidelines and train grassroots health workers to monitor and supervise the health of people in the community and provide guidance on how to handle suspected or positive cases.

Ministries and local People's Committees must seriously implement the tasks and solutions assigned by the Government, focusing on removing difficulties for production and business, fiscal and monetary support packages, quickly providing social security support money according to Resolution 42 to people severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and fighting fraud.

Relevant sectors and localities, especially the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities, have plans to call for and promote investment, find domestic and foreign corporations and units to invest and do business in their localities to create an atmosphere to attract stronger development in the coming time.

Regarding customs clearance of goods through secondary border gates on the Vietnam-China border, the Prime Minister agreed to allow the reopening of a number of secondary border gates and openings as proposed by Lang Son and Quang Ninh provinces. For other secondary border gates and openings, the Prime Minister allowed the People's Committees of border provinces to consider carefully and thoroughly the actual situation of the locality to proactively reopen secondary border gates and openings in the area according to the principles prescribed by Decree 112, ensuring the process of disease prevention and control. Only secondary border gates and openings with a large volume of goods, especially agricultural, aquatic and seafood products exported by our country and essential raw materials for domestic production, will be restored.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism urgently directed and guided localities to develop communication plans for safe destinations with specific and practical actions to promote domestic tourism, especially in the current summer. Proactively organize the market and prepare plans to restart the international tourism market at the appropriate time.

Duc Tuan