HCMC Deputy Chairman Le Thanh Liem said at a meeting Thursday that 1,523 businesses had dissolved in the first quarter, another 5,088 businesses have suspended operations and 35 companies in industrial areas report that they have been badly affected by the pandemic.

An estimated 70,000 employees, most of them in small and medium businesses, will be impacted by the pandemic in upcoming months, he said.

HCMC businesses are expected to recruit 47,000 workers in the second quarter, a 37 percent fall year-on-year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Human Resources Forecasting and Labor Market Information.

Vietnam’s largest city has been one of the most severely-impacted localities by the coronavirus epidemic.

Its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth in the first quarter was a meager 0.42 percent, compared to 7.6 percent in the same period last year.

The service sector was hit particularly hard, with tourist arrivals falling 42 percent year-on-year to 1.3 million people. Foreign direct investment pledges dropped nearly 33 percent to $1.05 billion.

HCMC is one of 12 localities in the country that will continue the government-ordered social distancing campaign until April 22.

It has recorded 54 Covid-19 patients, second only to Hanoi. Of these, 46 have been discharged from hospitals.