Panic buying in Vietnam's largest city before tighter lockdown
Vietnam's plan to prohibit residents of Ho Chi Minh City from leaving their homes from Monday has triggered panic buying in the epicenter of its worst corona virus outbreak. The scramble for purchases is hurting efforts in the nation's largest city to contain the spiraling Covid-19 outbreak, said the official Vietnam News Agency. Long queues of people were seen outside markets and shelves at supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City were emptying today, witnesses and state media said.
"It's looking chaotic," said a person who gave her name only as Nguyen in the city's District 2."Too many people are rushing out to buy food and essential stuff for their hard days ahead," she told Reuters. "I have managed to by some food, as I don't want to die from hunger before dying from corona virus."
Vietnam said yesterday it would also deploy troops in the city to enforce the lockdown and deliver food supplies to citizens, as the city turns to drastic measures to slow a spiraling rate of corona virus deaths. Vietnam has recorded 323,000 corona virus infections and 7,540 deaths, with Ho Chi Minh City accounting for more than half of the cases and 80 per cent of the fatalities, according to the health ministry.
"The city is ready with measures to supply food and essential goods for the residents," Phan Van Mai, deputy head of the city's corona virus task force was quoted as saying.Vietnam's ruling Communist Party yesterday announced a decision to replace Nguyen Thanh Phong as chairman of the city's People's Committee. It did not give a reason, but analysts cited his poor handling of the outbreak.
