Công văn 5886/BYT-MT

To: People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-affiliated cities,

On July 19, 2021, the Ministry of Health issued the Official Dispatch No. 5753/BYT-MT on testing and advantaging transporters of goods.  However, according to complaints from transporters of goods, several local jurisdictions have not fully and soundly abided by the instructions given in this Official Dispatch.

In order to facilitate the transportation of goods, the Ministry of Health (acting as the standing agency of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control) is calling on People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-affiliated cities to provide their direction as follows:

1. Transport companies, owners, operators and required on-board personnel (including shippers, ship crew members, pilots, etc.) must strictly comply with epidemic prevention and control measures during the transportation process to adapt to each level of epidemic prevention and control; must request transport drivers or operators and personnel on board means of goods transport to complete their medical declaration forms before departure and make sure that they can present QR codes indicating their medical declaration results (shown on their smartphones or appropriate devices or paper documents) for inspection purposes upon request.

2. At local jurisdictions applying the Directive No. 16/CT-TTg in effect, transport companies and owners can allow their drivers or operators and on-board personnel to perform their duties only when they attain the Certificate of negative result of the SARS-COV-2 test valid within 03 days (72 hours) from the date on which the test result is given.

3. Regarding the inspection of conformance of means of transport and operators of goods transport to COVID-19 prevention and control regulations:

3.1. At goods gathering and transshipment sites (e.g. ports, terminals, railway stations, warehouses, yards, industrial parks, factories, quarries,...), strictly enforcing regulations on inspection of the Certificate of SARS-COV-2 test result and other regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control on transport drivers or operators, on-board personnel and means of goods transportation moving in or out of these sites; ensuring coherence, scientificity, convenience and avoidance of traffic congestion.

3.2. At COVID-19 checkpoints and on traffic routes:

- Strictly enforcing the Official Dispatch No. 5753/BYT-MT dated July 19, 2021 of the Ministry of Health without requiring transport drivers or operators and on-board personnel to present Certificates of SARS-CoV-2 test results when travelling between provinces or centrally-affiliated cities where the Directive No. 16/CT-TTg is applied, including Ho Chi Minh city, Binh Duong, Dong Nai province and other 16 provinces applying social distancing measures according to the Prime Minister’s Official Dispatch No. 969/TTg-KGVX dated July 17, 2021 on implementation of social distancing measures for epidemic prevention and control in several local jurisdictions.

- Do not enforce epidemic prevention and control inspection measures at checkpoints along all of traffic routes on means of goods transportation obtaining fixed-term identification certificates from Departments of Transport of provinces and centrally-affiliated cities.  Only carrying out the inspection (through patrol and supervision activities on traffic routes) of means of transport showing signs of violating epidemic prevention, control and traffic safety laws.

3.3. Imposing strict penalties permitted by law on transport companies, owners and operators or drivers of goods transport committing violations against COVID-19 prevention and control regulations that may be detected during the inspection carried out at goods gathering and transshipment sites or on the route.

4. Promptly getting human resources and SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests ready at locally-managed transport gathering sites (e.g. stops, bus stations, truck terminals, seaports, inland ports, inland watercraft anchorages) for sampling and SARS-CoV-2 testing activities intended for transport operators or drivers and on-board personnel traveling from local jurisdictions applying the Directive No. 16/CT-TTg to those applying less strict epidemic prevention and control regulations as stated in the Official Dispatch No. 5753/BYT-MT dated July 19, 2021 of the Ministry of Health. In case of any force majeure events that occur (due to incidents involving means of transport, or caused by weather condition, failure of traffic infrastructure,...) with the consequence that the duration of arrival at the final destination is longer than 03 days (72 hours), transport operators or drivers and on-board personnel should be enabled to have access to sampling and testing activities at these locally-managed transport gathering sites (making sure that the period from the time of announcement of test results to the time of arrival at the final destination is restricted to 72 hours).

5. Directing Departments of Health to:

- Give COVID-19 vaccination priority to operators or drivers and required personnel on board means of goods transport, especially those operating on traffic routes inside or moving in and out of the localities applying the Directive No. 16/CT-TTg.

- At transport gathering sites, provide free SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test kits for transport operators or drivers and personnel on board means of transport that obtain fixed-term identification certificates issued by Departments of Transport of provinces or centrally-affiliated cities.

6. In the course of directing and implementing epidemic prevention and control measures, avoiding imposing any further requirements upon operators or drivers of means of goods transport in order to maximally facilitate the transportation and circulation of goods according to the core value of the direction of the Prime Minister and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 prevention and control. Should it be necessary to impose any further requirements other than those stated herein and in the Official Dispatch No. 5753/BYT-MT dated July 19, 2021 of the Ministry of Health, agreements with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport must be reached in advance.

Respectfully,