Soldiers have been maintaining the very strict lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), the largest city in Vietnam, since Monday.
To prevent a significant coronavirus outbreak, the Vietnamese government has banned residents from leaving their homes. Even shopping is not allowed for the next two weeks. Instead, the army delivers food packages to people’s homes.
The strict rules and the deployment of the army were announced on Friday. There was initial uncertainty about the purchase of food. When it turned out that this too would no longer be allowed, many metropolis residents started hoarding.
State media showed on Monday that soldiers had seized checkpoints in the city. Residents from various neighbourhoods said they had received packages with rice, vegetables, meat and fish from soldiers.
A total of 176,000 corona infections have been diagnosed in Ho Chi Minh City so far. Due to the Delta variant, the infection numbers have recently risen sharply, resulting in an overload of medical care. Nearly 15,000 doctors and nurses have been sent to the metropolis and surrounding areas to help.
According to the latest figures, of the approximately 98 million inhabitants of Vietnam, only 1.8 percent have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
