Nguyen Ho Hai, deputy secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, said at a meeting Monday that the policy has been approved and the city will complete the legal and procedural steps soon for its establishment and operations.

This center will closely monitor data of people in need to guarantee there will be no shortage of essential goods and no person in difficult that will be left out, Hai said.

Many people staying in HCMC are migrants who do not have household registration in the city, Hai said, explaining why the support center was needed.

HCMC is now the epicenter of the ongoing Covid-19 wave in Vietnam and has gone through more than 60 days of social distancing measures at various levels.

The city is now imposing the most stringent social distancing rule in line with Directive 16, which requires people to stay at home and only go out for essential purposes, while the operations of all non-essential service providers are suspended. Lottery sales is banned as are food and drink takeaway services, leaving many unemployed.

The support for poor families, if done effectively, will help prevent people from leaving the city en masse for their hometowns as has happened in recent days, Hai said.

Such "spontaneous" trips to go back to their hometowns pose the risk of spreading infection, and at the same time, could cause labor shortages and disruption of the production chain once the outbreak in the city is put under control, he said.

While the city has already mobilized many sources to support those adversely affected by the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, more measures are necessary "to ensure that no one is left to starve during the social distancing period," he added.

The city has spent VND578 billion from a relief package of VND886 billion ($37.8 million) approved in June to support almost 380,000 people, of whom more than 311,000 are workers in the informal sector.

In July, the city raised more than VND537 billion to help people in quarantine zones and locked down residential areas.