Delivery services in Da Nang have been reopened after a one-month hiatus under the central Vietnamese city’s social distancing mandate, but delivery workers still have to meet stringent requirements before they can resume their job.
Motorbike-based delivery workers, also known as ‘shippers’ in Vietnamese, must get vaccinated and tested before they are allowed to travel in Da Nang, a representative of the local Department of Industry and Trade told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
They are required to sanitize their hands on a regular basis, wear protective suits at work, and observe other epidemic prevention guidelines.
Each delivery worker will be screened for COVID-19 every three days using real-time RT-PCR testing.
They will not be allowed to work unless they are registered as employees of supermarkets, shopping malls, or convenience stores.
These businesses must ensure compliance with epidemic prevention guidelines among their delivery fleets and will have to take responsibility for the travel history of these workers.
Upon receiving the delivery worker lists from retailers, the Da Nang Department of Industry and Trade will ask local police to issue delivery worker ID cards and distribute them to the workers.
The epicenter of Vietnam’s second coronavirus outbreak back in July and August 2020, Da Nang has banned delivery services since July 22 this year before reinstating an extensive social distancing mandate, which shuts down non-essential businesses and requires people to stay home, on August 1.
On August 20, the city permitted delivery operations to return in order to appease the demand for essential purchases among local residents.
The demand for groceries in Da Nang tripled on the day of delivery relaunch, according to a representative of grocery store chain VinMart.
Also seeing a surge in demand, their competitor Co.op Mart has registered 40 of their employees as delivery workers to fulfil orders after the ban was lifted.
Vietnam has documented 365,152 local COVID-19 infections, including 3,399 cases in Da Nang, since the fourth wave began on April 27.
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