Ho Chi Minh City Party chief Nguyen Thien Nhan told a meeting on Thursday he expects to see a road map for the city’s service sector to recover from the impacts of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and “return to normal” in the next three months.

Speaking at the meeting, Nhan requested that the city should prioritize policies to support and reduce difficulties faced by manufacturers and businesses, while trying to complete a set of COVID-19 safety guidelines for companies by the end of April to be put into practice in May.

The leader demanded a road map for gradually increasing the size of the city’s service industry from May to July, targeting a full comeback of its tertiary sector in terms of scale after three months.

Nhan directed the municipal authorities to support enterprises in accessing the government’s preferential loan packages.

A comprehensive review of ongoing real estate projects in the southern metropolis is to be conducted by the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment from May to detect and remove obstacles confronting developers, Nhan asked.

The Party official also asked the city’s People’s Committee to organize briefings with district-level administrations every two weeks to discuss the progress of social investment projects, focusing on reviewing site clearance and land compensation.

The municipal Party secretary requested that 80 percent of the city’s public investment capital must be disbursed by October 30, noting that the disbursement of public investment in the first quarter of 2020 had not been up to expectations despite being higher than the same period last year.

Nhan’s requests are parts of preparations for the city to gradually phase out enhanced social distancing measures, which have been in place since April 1 and projected to last until at least April 22, with a possibility of extending through April 30.

In this regard, Nhan added, it is necessary to build a set of criteria guiding behaviors of groups and individuals in each sector of the economy, in addition to the above-mentioned orders, after the social distancing regulations are lifted.

“All industries and sectors have to set up [their own] sets of criteria from now until the end of April,” Nhan said, adding that the corporate sector has already had its set of criteria while the education sector is building one.

Nhan also ordered the strict and continuous implementation of measures to prevent and control COVID-19 during this time, focusing on detecting, zoning, and isolating infected people and their contacts on the principle of “mass quarantining over omission.”

On the other hand, Nhan reminded people to persistently uphold self-care principles and the government’s regulations and advisories such as wearing face masks in public, regularly washing hands, and limiting unnecessary travels.

Ho Chi Minh City is among 28 provinces and cities in Vietnam told to practice social distancing until at least the end of April 22 to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic.

The period can be extended to April 30 depending on the situation of the epidemic in each locality.

Vietnam previously completed 15 days of nationwide increased social distancing on April 15.

The country has announced 268 COVID-19 cases to date, 198 of whom have recovered.

Vietnam has not reported a single death attributed to the respiratory disease.

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