Le Huynh Minh Tu, deputy director of HCMC Department of Industry and Trade, said the city has prepared 414 mobile medical stations to test shippers in 21 districts and Thu Duc City.

On Sunday, the municipal People's Committee allowed shippers to operate in Thu Duc and seven districts considered high-risk areas, Districts 8, 12, Go Vap, Binh Tan, Binh Thanh and Hoc Mon, starting Monday. However, they must have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine and be quick-tested every afternoon.

In the other 14 districts, shippers who remain operational must also be tested every two days at mobile medical stations.

Shippers are still restricted to only one district per time.

HCMC, epicenter of Vietnam's fourth coronavirus wave, has recorded 209,921 local Covid-19 cases so far in the new outbreak.

The southern city has been put under a series of social distancing orders, with an ongoing lockdown since Aug. 23 that banned people from going out. Food, medications and other necessities are delivered to houses by local authorities instead.

However, sheer demand has presented a burden on local authorities, so the municipal trade department has proposed the People's Committee allow 25,000 shippers to deliver goods instead.