After four months of measures aimed at slowing a spiraling fatality rate, officials in Vietnam’s commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City will start loosening its coronavirus curbs seeing the new cases on the decline and the majority of its adult population partially vaccinated officials said on Thursday, permitting greater business and social activities.

Policies will aim to boost the economy and restore some normalcy while coexisting with the virus, which has wreaked havoc on the country in recent months, with total deaths rising from 36 in mid-May to over 19,098 as of Wednesday.

“All checkpoints on the streets will be lifted and no travel permits will be needed after today,” Le Hoa Binh, deputy chairman of the city’s people’s committee, told a news conference.

“We are gradually opening but put our resident’s safety first.”

The city of 9 million people has been hit hard by Vietnam’s Coronavirus outbreak, accounting for 80% of the country’s fatalities and half of the country’s almost 780,000 infections.

The capital of Hanoi, on the other hand, has been mostly unaffected.

Industrial parks, construction projects, malls, barbershops, hospitality facilities, and take-out restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City will be able to reopen on October 1, according to Binh. Many factories in the country’s industrial belt have had to close due to movement restrictions, prompting concerns from certain international trade groups that continued restrictions could drive them to migrate their operations to other nations.

“We foresee a huge shortage of labour force at manufacturing factories and construction when the city reopens,” Binh added.

“There are many chances for the unemployed to find new jobs and start over.”

Authorities are attempting to speed up vaccination, focusing on workers and adults over the age of 50. Approximately one-third of the city’s citizens have received all of their vaccinations.

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