Hanoi will ban restaurants from providing sit-down table service and close hair salons and beauty parlors from 12 pm on May 25 in order to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under a dispatch issued yesterday night by Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh, catering facilities could only provide take-out service.

“All entertainment activities will be ceased, physical exercises and large gatherings in parks, gardens and public locations will be banned,” the dispatch read.

He asked the Hanoi Tourism Department to double-check all quarantine works in hotels and residences. The facilities found unqualified to quarantine are not allowed to receive new suspected cases.

Hanoi will close all restaurants from May 25 at noon. Photo: Nguyen Linh

The municipal Health Department is tasked with supervising the prevention and control of the pandemic at public and non-public medical facilities.

Public means of transport are only allowed to carry half of the capacity and no more than 20 people at a time, including the driver and the attendant, the dispatch noted.

All returnees to Hanoi from other localities from May 25 must submit online medical declarations within 24 hours. Those who returned to the city between May 10 and May 24 should also do so before the end of May 25.

Giant businesses, including real estate developer Vingroup and T&T Group, are requested to test employees and residents living on their premises for Covid-19. This decision follows the detection of Covid-19 patients associated with the T&T Company and buildings in Times City, which is developed and run by Vingroup.

In the latest wave since late April, Hanoi has recorded more than 300 local Covid-19 cases in 19 districts, most of them linked to the two locked down hospitals in the capital city, including the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases No.2 in Dong Anh district and the Vietnam National Cancer Hospital or K Hospital.

The municipal authorities have already shut down non-essential services like bars and dance clubs.

Nationwide, Vietnam has confirmed 2,221 local Covid-19 patients in 30 cities and provinces since the new outbreak flared up in late April, the Ministry of Health announced, adding that over a million people have been vaccinated against Covid-19. The country has seen 2,794 recoveries and 44 deaths.