the HCMC authority has decided to hand down administrative fines to the unmasked starting tomorrow, city chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said.

Addressing a meeting on Covid-19 infection prevention and control on August 3, Phong asked localities to implement the citywide facemask mandate and impose fines on citizens who venture out in public without donning a mask.

Besides this, the local authorities were required to publish lists of stores selling face masks and hand sanitizers across the city. They also have to promptly report to the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade if they discover a shortage of essential items and signs of their prices being inflated, the city leader added.

In addition, the city will set up rapid response and patrol teams to disperse large gatherings of more than 30 people in front of office buildings and schools.

Moreover, district leaders would be held accountable to the city government if residents who have been requested to self-quarantine leave their homes.

In March, HCMC and many other localities nationwide had levied fines of an average VND200,000 on those who were without masks in public. SGT

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