On 31 March 2020, Vietnamese Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, issued Directive 16/TT-TTg on implementation of urgent measures for prevention and control of COVID-19 (“Directive 16”). Pursuant to Directive 16, a wide range of stringent social distancing measures have been implemented, including restricting citizens from leaving their homes and banning gatherings of more than two people in public except under extremely necessary circumstances.

Directive 16 has introduced, among other things, the following notable measures:

1. To carrying out strictly nationwide quarantine for fifteen days, starting from 01 April 2020 on the principle of each family isolates itself from other families, one village from other villages, one commune from other communes, one province from other provinces.
2. People are asked to stay at home except for extreme necessity, such as buying food, foodstuff and medicine; emergencies; working at factories, production establishments, facilities trading in essential services and goods that are not subject to provisional closure.
3. People must observe keeping an interpersonal distance of at least two meters and not gathering in groups of more than two people outside the workplace, schools, hospitals, and in public places.
4. People should actively participate in voluntary health declaration, fully implement measures to protect themselves and their families, and responsibly participate in epidemic prevention and control activities of competent authorities and the community.
5. Heads of enterprises, production establishments, facilities trading goods and services are responsible for applying prevention and control measures at their premises to ensure the health and safety for their employees.
6. Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Security, and the People’s Committees of Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City are assigned to utilize all resources and measures to completely and rapidly handle COVID-19 outbreaks at Bach Mai Hospital and Truong Sinh Company in Ha Noi and the Buddha Bar in Ho Chi Minh City.
7. All patients, their families and their carers are required to take health declaration; only one carer is allowed for each patient; no visitor is allowed at the hospitals.
8. The borders with Laos and Cambodia are temporarily closed from 12 a.m. of 01 April 2020.
9. Insurers are not allowed to introduce and provide insurance packages related to insurance against COVID-19.

The ZICO Law network has a growing collection of articles and materials relating to the COVID-19 outbreak that is accessible at ZICO Law COVID-19 Resource Hub.

If you have any questions or require any additional information, kindly contact Phuong Nguyen.