PM orders tougher measures against COVID-19 spreading in HCM City

It is necessary to clarify who is to blame for the resurgence of the virus in the community this time, Phuc told permanent Cabinet members at a meeting to review COVID-19 prevention and control.

He raised the question of wearing face masks in public places, saying while Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have tightened this practice, many other localities have not.

“Our consistent policy is that people must wear face masks in public places and on public means of transport as part of the 5K message delivered by the Ministry of Health,” said the PM.

He also asked for bold measures to put in place to ensure the safety of major national events that are scheduled to take place in the coming time, including the 13th National Party Congress.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines admitted that one of its flight attendants had violated quarantine regulations after contacting another flight attendant who was later confirmed to have carried the virus.

According to the Ministry of Health, the flight attendant stayed at Vietnam Airlines’ quarantine facility in HCM City for just five days and was allowed to leave the facility for self-quarantining at a boarding house following two negative tests.

He did not know he had contracted the virus from his colleague in the quarantine camp. Leaving the place, he stayed at the boarding house, but violated self-quarantine regulations when meeting his relatives and friends.

The man was said to have transmitted the virus onto one of his friends, a teacher of English at Key English Centre in Ho Chi Minh City.

The teacher then passed the virus onto one of his students and a one-year-old child during meetings and contacts.

The latest cases have broken the three-month long streak HCM City had kept without new locally transmitted cases.