Description

As the Covid community infection in Hà Nội has not been controlled, the city continues the social distancing until 6 am, September 21. The restriction is however different from the last two weeks. The city applies three levels of social distancing in accordance with three zones of infection risks, as shown in the following figure:

Map of Covid zonal control in Hà Nội. Source: https://vnexpress.net 

– Zone 1 or Red Zone – highest risk: strictest rule is applied for 10 districts including Tây Hồ, Ba Đình, Cầu Giấy, Hoàn Kiếm, Đống Đa, Hai Bà Trưng, Thanh Xuân, Hà Đông, Thanh Trì, and Hoàng Mai; and parts of districts of Nam Từ Liêm, Bắc Từ Liêm, Hoài Đức, Thanh Oai, and Thường Tín. Within these zones, majorly located in the inner city, residents have to follow Directive 16 as previously but with stricter rules. Specifically, they are required to stay home but allowed to go out for necessities, e.g., buy food, medicine. Since Saturday, September 4, more Covid checkpoints have been installed to control people entering and going out of high-risk areas.

– Zone 2 or lower risk areas including districts of Long Biên, Gia Lâm, Đông Anh, Sóc Sơn, and Mê Linh.

– Zone 3 or safe zones including districts of Ba Vì, Sơn Tây, Phúc Thọ, Đan Phượng, Thạch Thất, Quốc Oai, Chương Mỹ, Ứng Hòa, Mỹ Đức, and Phú Xuyên; and parts of districts of Nam Từ Liêm, Bắc Từ Liêm, Hoài Đức, Thanh Oai, and Thường Tín.

For zones 2 and 3, less strict rules are applied; i.e., instead of Directive 16, Directive 15 with some stricter measures are deployed. Accordingly, in these areas, social events are suspended. Gatherings of more than 10 people outside workplaces, schools, and hospitals are banned. In public places, people should remain two meters of distance from others.

Except group diplomatic and political institutions, for enterprises and institutions in the red zones that are allowed to open, they should provide renewed travel permits provided by the police offices.

The new regulation has caused traffic chaotic at some checkpoints of red zones in Hà Nội, early today morning.

Traffic load at 7:00 at a checkpoint on Cầu Diễn road in district of Bắc Từ Liêm, Hà Nội. Photo & source: https://vnexpress.net 

Companies are also confused with the constantly changing instructions for getting travel permits. For the first two days, the city, therefore, hasn’t applied new travel permits to allow firms to complete the procedure.

Since the fourth Covid wave (end of April 2021), Vietnam has now more than 500,000 cases, mainly in the South, especially critical in Hồ Chí Minh City (HCMC). More than half of the cases have been recovered. More than 13.000 cases have died. Nearly 19% of the population (from 18 years old or 18.2 million people) have been vaccinated with the first dose but only 3.3 % are fully vaccinated. HCMC has the highest rate of vaccination of the first dose with over 80% (5.9 million people) but only 5.2% are fully vaccinated. For Hà Nội, the rates are 47.6% (2.7 million people) and 6.9%, respectively.

Related news:
Covid restrictions continue in Hà Nội until September 6 and in HCMC until September 15

Sources & further information: “10 quận, huyện Hà Nội giãn cách xã hội sau ngày 6/9” at https://vnexpress.net, “Ba phân vùng chống dịch ở Hà Nội” at https://vnexpress.net,  “Hanoi deploys new Covid checkpoints in high-risk areas” at https://e.vnexpress.net, “Hanoi to extend strict social distancing in high risk areas” at https://e.vnexpress.net, “Travel permit roadblocks will disrupt operations: Hanoi firms” at https://e.vnexpress.net,  “Phương tiện dồn ứ ở chốt kiểm soát vào ‘vùng đỏ’ Hà Nội” at https://vnexpress.net,  and “Số liệu Covid-19 tại Việt Nam” at https://vnexpress.net, accessed on 6 Septemer 2021.