Ho Chi Minh City reactivates COVID-19 checkpoints at all entrances

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh have re-established 12 COVID-19 checkpoints at entrances to the city in order to inspect all people entering and exiting the metropolis.

The checkpoints were put into operation at 0:00 on Friday as the city entered a 15-day period with more extensive social distancing measures.

The municipal People’s Committee has tasked the Department of Public Security with operating the checkpoints.

Officers have been put in charge of examining people and vehicles that enter or exit the city, while certain units are responsible for ensuring order at these checkpoints.

Travelers are required to file health declarations as well as present their IDs and negative COVID-19 test results.

A resident presents his ID and negative COVID-19 test result at a checkpoint in Ho Chi Minh City, July 9, 2021. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre

According to the observation of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters at a checkpoint on Vinh Binh Bridge in Thu Duc City, many people were asked to turn around upon failure to present a certificate proving they had tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

Ho Chi Minh City residents are required to test negative for the pathogen if they wish to travel to other localities.

They can either register for a rapid antigen test or a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, which takes a longer time but provides a more accurate result, at various hospitals in the metropolis.

Bui Tien Loi, a police official on duty at a checkpoint, stated that the negative test result is valid for three days.

Travelers have to turn around after they failed to present a negative COVID-19 test result at a checkpoint in Ho Chi Minh City, July 9, 2021. Photo: Le Phan / Tuoi Tre

The 12 COVID-19 checkpoints at Ho Chi Minh City’s gateways were first established in April 2020 when Vietnam faced a serious epidemic outbreak.

They were put into operation again from May 15 to June 1 to medically inspect all vehicles entering the city.

Vietnam had documented 25,419 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday afternoon, with 8,950 recoveries and 105 deaths, according to the health ministry.

The country has recorded 21,943 local infections in 57 provinces and cities, including 9,895 cases in Ho Chi Minh City, since the fourth and worst-ever outbreak began on April 27.