Vietnam’s commercial hub orders mask-wearing as Covid cases surge

By Mai Ngoc Chau

VIETNAM’S commercial hub

of Ho Chi Minh City is ordering the return of maskwearing at school campuses amid a rise in Covid infections, the city’s education department said in a post on its web site.

Hanoi earlier this week ordered the return of mandatory indoor mask wearing in public places. The Ho Chi Minh City directive does not apply to universities.

Ho Chi Minh City’s party committee recommended the donning of masks on public transport and in public places, according to its website. The city’s health department called on residents to limit gatherings and avoid crowded areas, it said in a statement on its web site.

Covid cases in the city jumped to 163 on Thursday compared with a total of 181 this year through April 16, according to city health department data. Bloomberg News

The military’s statement raised the likelihood of a renewed surge in the nearly weeklong violence that has killed hundreds and pushed Sudan’s population to the breaking point. Alarm has grown that the country’s medical system was on the verge of collapse, with many hospitals forced to shut down and others running out of supplies. “Ruin and destruction and the sound of bullets have left no place for the happiness everyone in our beloved country deserves,” Burhan said in the speech.