COVID 19 PANDEMIC: HCM CITY Viet Nam — 12 checkpoints at city gateways check drivers, trucks entering and leaving HCM City
A staff checks the body temperature of a driver at the Phú Cường bridge checkpoint in HCM City bordering Bình Dương Province. VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Linh
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VIET NAM
Vietnam reported +425 new cases and a total of 24,810 cases, no new death, total remains at 104.
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HCM CITY — HCM City on Friday reopened 12 pandemic checkpoints at city gateways amid the new 15-day lockdown period to ensure that drivers have a negative COVID-19 test before entering the city.
All drivers entering the city must present a negative COVID-19 test certificate within 72 hours to be allowed to enter the city.
The checkpoints are operated by local police, army force, health staff and interdisciplinary forces.
On the first day of lockdown, many drivers were rejected and were forced to turn back as they failed to present the certificate or provide a “good” reason for entering the city.
Remote automatic body temperature monitors are used to check drivers’ temperatures. If the drivers have not completed health declarations online, they are required to scan the barcode for the health declaration.
Police forces have been mobilised to ensure security and order at the checkpoints, and at isolation and lockdown areas in the city. They are also working with medical staff to trace suspected COVID cases.
Bùi Tiến Lợi, deputy head of Tân Túc Traffic Police Station under the HCM City Police, is in charge of the checkpoint on National Highway 1A, which borders Long An Province. He said that any driver failing to present a negative COVID-19 test certificate would not be allowed to enter the city.
If there are two people in the vehicle but only one has a certificate, neither person will be allowed to enter. No exceptions will be permitted.
Many vehicles, mostly trucks and container trucks, were waiting in long queues on Friday at checkpoints at the eastern and western gateways because of problems with health declarations and test certificates, according to city authorities.
