Work began Thursday on removing over 300 Covid-19 checkpoints between districts as Ho Chi Minh City entered a "new normal" period starting Friday.

In Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City, soldiers and milita members roll up barbed wire and remove corrugated iron sheets and other things used to set up checkpoints on roads leading to the Hanoi Highway.

The barricades and barbed wires are loaded in pickup trucks and taken to collection points in wards. It takes about 20 minutes to dismantle a checkpoint.

About 10 km away, barriers on the Phan Van Tri-Pham Van Dong intersection in Go Vap District are removed. This checkpoint has been in place since June.

A soldier removes a Go Slow traffic sign on Phan Van Tri Street.

Two police officers remove signs and barriers inside the Hoang Van Thu Park in Tan Binh District.

Bui Ngoc Giau, head of the traffic police department in Tan Binh, said four checkpoints placed at the district's border would be removed. Instead of checkpoints, officers would patrol the streets instead.

"Traffic police will cooperate with multiple units to monitor people on the streets and raise awareness about coronavirus prevention," he said.

Barriers and barbed wire are taken on pickup trucks on Phung Khac Khoan Street towards a collection point in District 1's Da Kao Ward.

In Binh Thanh District's Ward 7, police officers removed barriers on nearly 20 alleys along Le Quang Dinh and No Trang Long streets.

"Since coronavirus restrictions were imposed, I've stayed home all the time, which is suffocating. Now that the outbreak is under control, I'm ecstatic. I've hoped for the day when Ho Chi Minh City would return to normal," said 55-year-old Huynh Thu Nguyet (pictured).

At 2 p.m., several checkpoints between districts were awaiting removal. An officer at a checkpoint on the Hanoi Highway said barriers would be removed before 6 p.m.

Le Hoa Binh, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City, said people can move around as they wish, but could not leave the city on their own.

Ho Chi Minh City, epicenter of the fourth coronavirus wave, has gone through over four months of numerous social distancing orders. With a strategic shift from a zero-virus strategy to living with it, the city is lifting various restrictions and resuming certain activities starting Friday.