As many as 110 people, including foreigners, were fined VND300 million (US$13,800) for not wearing masks in Ha Noi’s Hoan Kiem district during the four-day holiday from April 29 to May 2, according to Bui Van Dang, deputy head of the district’s police department.

This move is an effort to prevent the spreading of Covid-19 pandemic in the city. All people are required to follow the regulation strictly.

“Those found not wearing face masks in public have to pay a fine of up to VND3 million (roughly US$130),” Dang said. 

A coronavirus checkpoint in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem district asks people to wear masks in public. Photo: Hai Nam

The latest Covid-19 outbreak in Vietnam was triggered on April 29, after over a month without local transmissions, when a 28-year-old man tested positive for the virus in the northern province of Ha Nam. He had returned from Japan on April 7 and been quarantined for a fortnight in the central city of Danang.

Since then, the number of Covid-19 cases confirmed has been 36, who have been found in Ha Nam, Hanoi, Hung Yen, Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh Phuc and Danang, of them 35 are related to people who had completed the mandatory quarantine. The remaining one case is a man in Danang, whose transmission source is yet to be identified.

Hanoi has confirmed four community transmissions, three of them making contact with the Ha Nam man and the other one exposed to an infected Chinese expert on a flight from Danang to Hanoi on April 29.

The capital city has suspended non-essential services like bars, karaokes and dance clubs, as well as street food vendors and cafes to prevent the disease from spreading.

Hanoi mayor inspects Covid-19 prevention operations in Noi Bai International Airport. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn

Speaking during an inspection visit to Noi Bai International Airport on May 3, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh said the municipal Disease Control Center has to tighten the enforcement of quarantine procedure and update it for medical workers due to serious evolution of the fatal disease and increased people movement via the airport, especially after the national holiday of National Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day, which ended on May 3.

It’s reported that four thermometers for body temperature measurement have been placed in Noi Bai airport to screen all passengers. Moreover, eight employees including two physicians work 10-hour shift at the airport.

In addition to four thermometers in the international arrival and departure gates, two spare machines are ready for emergency situation.

Anh said all hospitals in the city must set up rapid reaction teams to confront the high risk of Covid-19 disease spreading.