Starting Friday, all activities gathering more than 30 people at once such as fairs or group exercises in public will be banned in the city.

Any events that are still allowed must strictly all protocols on Covid-19 prevention as regulated by the Ministry of Health and approved by the city's authorities.

For such events, the organizer must ensure that participants keep a distance of at least one meter from each other, and the number of participants must be less than half of its full capacity.

The city will shut down gyms, yoga and fitness centers, wedding and convention centers, buffet restaurants from 6 p.m. Friday.

HCMC, the country's largest metropolis with around 13 million people, has already shut down bars, discotheques, karaoke parlors, theaters, massage parlors, spas, and gaming cafes since last week.

The city has also allowed students to stay home from next week, urging schools to finish their end-of-year exams this week.

Starting April 27, Vietnam has suffered a new Covid-19 outbreak in different clusters across the country. Previously, the nation had gone over a month without community transmissions of the virus.

As of Thursday morning, 121 Covid-19 community transmissions had been recorded in 15 localities: the three cities of Hanoi, Da Nang, HCMC and the provinces of Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen, Quang Nam, Dong Nai, Hai Duong, Yen Bai, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh, Lang Son, Quang Ngai and Thanh Hoa.