Vietnam implemented a nationwide lockdown starting April 1, 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spread globally, infecting over 720,000 people and causing nearly 35,000 deaths in over 200 countries and territories, with no signs of abating. In Vietnam, the number of cases is increasing rapidly every day, posing a high risk of community transmission. Responding to the call of General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, and to continue proactively preventing and controlling the disease, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 16 on implementing urgent measures to prevent and control the Covid-19 pandemic.

Specifically, citizens will observe a nationwide social isolation period of 15 days starting from 0:00 on April 1, 2020, based on the principle of families isolating from families, villages isolating from villages, communes isolating from communes, districts isolating from districts, provinces isolating from provinces. Factories and production facilities must ensure safe distancing, wear masks, and carry out disinfection and sterilization as required.

All citizens are required to stay at home, only going out in cases of absolute necessity such as buying food, medicine, seeking emergency medical care, working at factories, production facilities, essential service businesses that are not closed or suspended, and other emergency situations; strictly observe a minimum distance of 2 meters when communicating; and not gather in groups of more than 2 people outside of workplaces, schools, hospitals, and public places.

State agencies and units should arrange for officials and employees to work from home using information technology; only in truly necessary cases such as combat duty, office duty, supplying essential goods and services, handling confidential documents, and other necessary tasks as required, should they come to work at the office; online meetings should be increased. The head of each agency or unit will be held responsible for any infection among staff due to failure to strictly comply with disease prevention and control regulations at the workplace.

The Ministry of Transport and the People's Committees of provinces and cities are directing the basic suspension of public passenger transport services. Movement between localities and regions should be minimized; movement from epidemic areas to other localities should be stopped, except in special cases for official duties and for the supply of food, essential goods, transportation of workers and experts of enterprises, and transportation of raw materials for production.

Lan Oanh