The move was made as thousands of people have left HCMC, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An over the past days after these localities eased social distancing measures.

Those who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from the virus should be allowed to isolate themselves at home for seven days and to be tested against COVID-19 on the first day when they return to their hometown, said the ministry.

The ministry suggested the People’s Committees of receiving localities to direct their health departments and district-level people’s committees to receive, manage, and supervise the returnees. 

All returnees are requested to comply with the ministry's 5K message. They have to immediately inform local health authorities if experiencing such symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, and loss of taste or smell. 

Unvaccinated people have to comply with 14-day mandatory quarantine, have their health monitored in the next 14 days, and undergo COVID-19 tests on the first, seventh, and 14th days upon the date of arrival. 

Over the past days, tens of thousands of Vietnamese migrant workers have returned to their home provinces after the local authorities of HCMC, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Long An lifted strict stay-at-home orders from early October.

On September 30, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that HCMC and the provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An should continue to monitor the flow of people going in and out and not let them travel to other localities unsupervised.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Public Security at the time, there were 3.5 million people from provinces and cities across the country working in HCMC and provinces of Long An, Binh Duong and Dong Nai. Of them, 2.1 million want to return to their hometowns.

Given the huge demand, authorities in HCMC and nearby provinces have arranged buses to transport people to their hometowns. HCMC alone has arranged 113 buses since Friday afternoon at its gateways to take people home./.