Regarding regulations on mandatory PCR testing for business establishments in Vinh City

Reopening to welcome customers after nearly 2 months of only selling takeaway food, the pho restaurant in Nghi Phu (Vinh City) is quite crowded with people coming for breakfast. To ensure safety and disease prevention, the restaurant has fully arranged measures such as: Arranging tables and chairs at a distance; preparing hand sanitizer and masks for customers; 100% of employees wear masks, wear goggles and keep distance from customers; disinfect tables, chairs and items after customers leave the store. In particular, the restaurant has registered to scan QR codes for customers when coming to the restaurant.

According to the list of services that continue to stop operating and services that are allowed to operate when applying Directive 19 in the area from 0:00 on July 19 issued by Vinh City People's Committee, food service establishments (restaurants, eateries, cafes):

- The owner of the facility directly manages and the staff and workers of the facility must organize PCR testing once a week.

- Arrange seating for guests to eat and drink, ensuring a minimum safe distance of 1.5 meters.

- Provide protective equipment for staff, measure body temperature of arriving guests; arrange adequate means and materials for hand washing and disinfection at the facility and ensure safe distancing during contact.

- Clean and disinfect table and chair surfaces immediately after each guest leaves.

To ensure hygiene, the staff at this pho restaurant regularly disinfect the tabletop after customers leave. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Hoang Hiep, owner of a pho restaurant on VI Le Nin Street, said: "I am very excited to be able to reopen for business. Although we have to comply with the conditions that come with it,Vinh City People's CommitteeRegulations: Implement 5K; Provide protective equipment for employees, measure body temperature of arriving guests; arrange adequate means and materials for hand washing, disinfection at the facility and ensure safe distance when in contact; Conduct cleaning and disinfection of table and chair surfaces immediately after each guest leaves; Operate no later than 22:00 every day... However, with the regulation "The owner of the facility directly manages and the staff and workers of the facility must organize PCR testing once a week", I find it quite inappropriate.

According to Mr. Hiep's analysis, the first problem isthe cost of testing is too high(ranging from 1.6-2 million VND/sample for 10 people/week) in the context of the epidemic, business is very difficult. Second, sampling will take time, if there are many people, the risk of infection will be higher. Third, the test results are valid within 1 week, so in that week, the employee has come into contact with many people, so is the result valid or not?

QR code scanning application to manage information of diners coming to the restaurant, convenient for tracking and tracing when needed. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Besides the excitement of being able to resume operations after 1.5 months of closure, Mr. Ho Tuan Anh, owner of a coffee shop on An Duong Vuong Street (Truong Thi Ward, Vinh City) has his own concerns. That is, if implementedPCR testing is required once a weekIf your restaurant has 5 people, the cost is nearly 800,000 VND/person/week, and if you combine the costs, it will cost 1,500,000 VND/5 people/week.

“This amount of money is quite large for a small business like us in the current conditions. Due to the epidemic, business has been sluggish, and we have been closed for a long time. Now we are back in business, not knowing what will happen, and having to cover this additional cost is a real burden. I hope that relevant authorities and sectors will adjust the regulations to be more reasonable and closer to reality,” said Mr. Tuan Anh.

A coffee shop arranges tables and chairs apart, ensuring a minimum distance of 1.5m. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Regarding the food and beverage business, according to Ms. Ho Thi Dieu Linh, owner of a sweet soup shop on Ha Huy Tap Street (Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City), the conditions attached to the city's permission to reopen are necessary in preventing the epidemic. And it is acceptable if it is temporary for 1-2 weeks, but if it is prolonged, small businesses will have financial difficulties.

“The staff working at the restaurant have a salary of 3-4 million VND/month. If they are forced to do PCR testing, they will have to spend half of their salary each month. If the restaurant owner pays, the cost will be too high. We have no choice but to change to only selling takeout and delivery instead of opening for on-site service. I hope the city will consider and come up with a reasonable solution.”

Ms. Ho Thi Dieu Linh

According to feedback from business households, up to now, they have not received any specific instructions on how toPRC testing according to city regulations.What they want is for the city to share and accompany small businesses in creating conditions such as: Publicizing the list of medical facilities that conduct PCR testing and specific prices; Coordinating and directing facilities with PCR testing functions to lower prices and reduce costs for business owners and employees.

Many restaurant owners said that if they cannot afford the additional cost of PCR testing, they will be forced to refuse to serve customers on-site and only offer take-out. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Many opinions suggest that the city should apply information technology to manage, track, and trace Covid-19 such as scanning QR codes, Bluozone application... instead of PCR test certificates. Or instead of requiring testing of all store employees, only need to test 1 person in the store/time/week as the city has applied in recent community testing to reduce the cost burden...

Before the showThe Covid-19 pandemic is becoming more and more complicated. When stopping social distancing according to Directive 15 and implementing Directive 19, Vinh city issued the items that are allowed to reopen for business with an appendix of accompanying conditions, including the regulation that "The owner of the facility directly manages and the employees and workers of the facility must organize PCR testing once a week".

Obviously, this is only a temporary mandatory regulation during the complicated development of the epidemic to improve the effectiveness of Covid-19 prevention and control. However, in reality, many shortcomings have arisen as reflected above. Therefore, the city needs to have specific instructions for business households; consider to make reasonable and appropriate adjustments.

According to the survey, the current price of PCR testing: Grouping 5 people costs 300,000 VND/person, grouping 10 people costs 238,000 VND/person. If done individually, the price is 734,000 VND/person.

PCR test results after 1 day, certificate valid for 5-7 days.