People buy seafood at a market in Da Nang, August 13, 2021. Many people in
the city have been stocking food after the city announced plans of a seven-day
strict lockdown. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong 

Da Nang and Nha Trang in central Vietnam have issued decisions banning people from leaving their homes for a week as a tougher restriction amid rising coronavirus infections. 

In the city of Da Nang with 1.2 million people, the order will be effective from 8 a.m. Monday, giving people two days to arrange their work and buy food and essential goods.

The move came as the number of infections has been rising steadily with more complicated Covid clusters, especially at Hoa Cuong wholesale market, the largest in central Vietnam which has been shut down as being linked to at least 20 infections.

The lockdown order essentially means people are not allowed to leave their homes while manufacturing enterprises at industrial parks and hi-tech parks are still permitted to operate but only with a maximum of 30 percent of the number of employees at their unit.

All companies and government offices would have to let their employees remain at work for seven days without leaving.

During the week-long order, authorities would perform mass Covid-19 testing throughout the city to detect and isolate coronavirus cases.

City authorities asked all residents not to gather in large numbers to buy and reserve food too much, which can pose risks of spreading the virus in the community.

Da Nang, generally considered the third most important city in Vietnam after Hanoi and HCMC, has recorded 1,859 infections during the ongoing wave that struck the country in late April.

Nha Trang beach town in the central province of Khanh Hoa, home to 500,000 people, began a similar seven-day lockdown from Saturday as its number of infections has crossed 2,000.

A police officer checks travel papers of people in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province,
July 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Ngoc

All Nha Trang residents are required to stay at home for a week and only allowed to go out for "essential and emergency reasons."

Government offices are asked to let their employees to work from home while businesses and factories have to apply stay-at-work model in seven days.

Khanh Hoa, home to 1.3 million people, began a 14-day semi-lockdown since August 6 under Directive 16, which requires people to stay at home and only go out to buy necessities such as food or medicines or to work at factories or businesses that are allowed to open.

The province has recorded over 4,200 infections during the ongoing outbreak.

Vietnam is currently facing its most challenging Covid outbreak so far, triggered by the Delta variant, prompting localities to impose travel restrictions or tighten lockdown measures to control the pandemic.