Social distancing rules will be extended by one month in Ho Chi Minh City to limit spread of COVID-19, according to Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong. 

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Municipal People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong

Speaking at a national video conference on COVID-19 response on Sunday morning, Nguyen said the number of daily new COVID-19 cases dipped by 18 percent over the past 13 days (from 4,615 cases on average per day between July 20 and August 1 down to 3,830 cases per day from August 2-14).

The imposition of introduction of social distancing rules has resulted in reduction of 75 percent of vehicle traffic and brought infection rate in lockdown areas down to 57 percent, said Nguyen.

Though daily new COVID-19 infections have been "plateauing" over the past few days, the figure still remains high, the official admitted.

Given the pandemic situation, the city has developed a two-phase plan with an aim to control the pandemic prior to September 15 as mandated by the central Government.

In the first phase from August 15-31, the city will double efforts to contain outbreaks in such districts like Can Gio, Nha Be, Cu Chi, Phu Nhuan, Districts 5, 7, and 11, and to strive to reduce death rate.

In the second stage, the city targets to reduce the rates of deaths and severe cases by 20% each.

The number of hospitalized patients is expected not to exceed 2,000 per day while the vaccination rate for citizens above 18 years old is projected to reach more than 70 percent.

As of 6:30 pm on Saturday, the southern metropolis confirmed 144,519 infection cases, accounting for 54 percent of the country’s national patient tally.

It also reported 4,315 fatalities, making up nearly 80 percent of the national death toll./.