Prime Minister orders 15-day social distancing from 0:00 on April 1

The Prime Minister has just issued Directive No. 16/CT-TTg on urgent measures to prevent and combat the Covid-19 epidemic. Accordingly, social isolation will be implemented nationwide for 15 days from 0:00 on April 1, 2020, following the principle of family isolation from family, village isolation from village, commune isolation from commune, district isolation from district, province isolation from province, workshops and factories must ensure safe distance, wear masks, and disinfect according to regulations.

The directive states:The Covid-19 pandemic has broken out globally, infecting over 720,000 people, killing nearly 35,000 people in over 200 countries and territories, and shows no signs of stopping. In Vietnam, the number of cases is increasing rapidly every day and there is a high risk of community transmission. It is predicted that the epidemic will spread rapidly and widely, seriously threatening human life, health, and the country's socio-economy.

In response to the call of General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, with the spirit of prioritizing human health and life above all else, to continue to proactively prevent and control the epidemic, the Prime Minister requested ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to focus on implementing the proposed epidemic prevention and control measures, especially Directive No. 15/CT-TTg dated March 27, 2020, comply with the directions of the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, and effectively implement the following urgent measures:

1. Implement social isolation for 15 days from 0:00 on April 1, 2020 nationwide according to the principle of family isolation from family, village isolation from village, commune isolation from commune, district isolation from district, province isolation from province, workshops and factories must ensure safe distance, wear masks, disinfect and sterilize according to regulations. Require all people to stay at home, only go out in cases of real necessity such as buying food, medicine, emergency, working at factories, production facilities, service and essential goods businesses that are not closed, suspended and other emergencies; strictly follow the minimum distance of 2m when communicating; do not gather more than 2 people outside of offices, schools, hospitals and in public places.

The Prime Minister requests all people to voluntarily comply with requirements and measures to prevent and control the epidemic, actively participate in voluntary health declaration, fully implement measures to protect themselves and their families, and responsibly participate in epidemic prevention and control activities of functional agencies and the community; heads of enterprises, production establishments, and goods and service trading establishments are responsible for applying epidemic prevention and control measures at their establishments, ensuring the health and safety of workers.

2. The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Committee of Hanoi City, and the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City must be prompt, determined, and mobilize all resources and use all solutions to thoroughly handle the "outbreaks" at Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi) and Buddha Bar (Ho Chi Minh City); take advantage of every hour and every minute to trace and apply appropriate measures to all cases at risk, those in contact with sick people, and those who have passed through the "outbreaks"; continue to call on people who have passed through these "outbreaks" to make medical declarations and request contact for testing. Request the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with the health sector to make a list of people involved in the activities of Truong Sinh Company who are at risk of infection for medical monitoring, surveillance, isolation, and rapid and thorough handling of sources of disease transmission.

The People's Committees of relevant provinces and cities shall closely coordinate with ministries and the two cities to perform this task well. Implement home quarantine, health declaration for classification, testing and centralized quarantine if necessary for those who have been to Bach Mai Hospital since March 12, 2020; assign local authorities to organize close monitoring at each family.

The Ministry of Public Security and the Provincial People's Committees continue to urgently conduct medical screening and examination, update the health status of those who have entered the country since March 8, 2020 but have not yet been quarantined; make a list of those who have had direct contact or close contact to classify and screen, and apply appropriate quarantine measures (centralized quarantine, at home, at accommodation facilities).

3. State agencies and units shall arrange for cadres, civil servants and public employees to use information technology to work from home; only in truly necessary cases such as combat duty, agency duty, provision of essential goods and services, processing confidential documents and other necessary tasks as required should they come to work at the office; increase the organization of online meetings. The head is responsible for cadres and employees contracting the disease due to not strictly following the regulations on disease prevention and control at the office.

4. The Ministry of Transport and the People's Committees of provinces and cities shall basically stop public passenger transport activities. Minimize travel from one locality or area to another; stop travel from epidemic areas to other localities, except in special cases for official duties and cases of providing food, essential necessities, shuttle buses for workers and experts of enterprises, and transporting raw materials and production materials.

5. Assign to the Ministry of Health:

a) Direct hospitals to implement strict procedures and management to avoid cross-infection in hospitals; strictly control and require mandatory medical declarations for patients, relatives, and caregivers; each patient is only allowed one caregiver; stop visiting patients at medical facilities. Have strict regulations on patient admission, do not let an infected individual affect the operation of the entire hospital.

b) Propose specific mechanisms and policies to support domestic enterprises in manufacturing medical equipment and instruments, especially ventilators, patient monitors, infusion machines, and dialysis machines, and report to Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung for direction.

c) Report to the Prime Minister on plans, scenarios and response capabilities for epidemic emergencies by the afternoon of March 31, 2020.

d) Organize and arrange for continued medical examination and treatment at Bach Mai Hospital (Hanoi), ensuring safety for medical staff and people as requested by the Steering Committee and the Ministry of Health.

d) Consider and handle recommendations of the Hanoi People's Committee, support and create conditions for Hanoi to control epidemics in the area.

6. The Ministry of Health synthesizes and periodically announces twice a day the positive test results in localities, ensuring accuracy.

7. Temporarily close main and secondary border gates for people to cross from 00:00 on April 1, 2020 on the border with Laos and Cambodia. Strictly control entry through international border gates on land border routes; all people entering from Laos and Cambodia must be quarantined for 14 days.

8. The Ministry of National Defense directs the organization, arrangement, and expansion of centralized quarantine facilities, separating newly quarantined and quarantined cases to prevent cross-infection; strengthens the management of trails and openings on border routes.

9. The Ministry of Public Security shall strengthen direction in ensuring security, order, and crime prevention and control, especially in rural areas.

10. The Ministry of Finance directs the General Department of Customs to handle difficulties in exporting fabric masks; requires insurance businesses not to introduce and deploy insurance packages related to insurance for Covid-19 disease.

11. Ministries, sectors, localities and press agencies continue to promote information and propaganda in support of the policy of protecting people's health, and rectify some newspapers with headlines that cause confusion and misunderstanding. Those responsible for epidemic prevention and control must not make statements that cause panic among the people.

12. The Ministry of Industry and Trade and local People's Committees pay attention to ensuring essential goods, food and foodstuffs for the people./.