Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong has decided to extend social distancing in the entire southern metropolis by another two weeks, starting from June 15.

The decision was made at the proposal of Director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Tan Binh as sources of some infectious chains have yet been identified.

The southern metropolis  has been placed under 14-day social distancing in accordance with the Government's Directive No. 15/CT-TTg, starting from May 31.

Decree 15 requires suspension of social events, bans gatherings of 20 people or more in one place and of 10 people or more outside workplaces, schools and hospitals, and ensures a minimum distance of two meters between people in public. 

According to Nguyen, the city has detected 821 community infections from May 18 to June 13.

Specifically, districts with the highest infectious rates are Go Vap (115 cases in 14 out of 15 wards), District 12 (72 cases in seven out of 11 wards), Binh Thach (66 cases in nine out of 20 wards), Tan Binh (63 cases in ten out of 15 wards), Binh Tan (61 cases in seven out of 11 wards), and Tan Phu (51 cases in all wards). 

Since May 26, a cluster emerging from the Revival Ekklesia Mission - Christian mission - has led to 470 infectious cases in Thu Duc city and the chain has been fundamentally put under control to date.

However, a series of other SARS-COV-2 infectious clusters have emerged with unidentified transmission sources including Ehome 3 residential building in Binh Tan District, the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases in District 5, a mechanic factory in Hoc Mon District.