Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Health has issued colour-coded riskguidance for localities to implement depending on their individual COVID-19situations.

The measuresare responses to different threat levels, with red being the highest level ofthreat of infection, followed by orange (high risk), yellow (medium risk) andgreen (new normal), on the epidemiologic map.

Code red isactivated when a cluster of COVID-19 cases is detected but no apparent sourceof infection can be traced or the source is determined to be from an industrialpark, school or supermarket.

Code orangeis applied when there is at least one case without a known source of infection,or the source is a crowded place listed as part of a code red cluster situationor the commune is adjacent to code red localities.

Code yellowis activated when a community case has a known source of infection, there aredirect contacts with confirmed cases in the community, or when a commune isnext to code orange localities, or when the risk of the virus is high fromillegal entrants or a large number of people at quarantine facilities.

At codegreen, individuals must follow the 5K message Khau trang (facemask) – Khu khuan(disinfection) – Khoang cach (distance) – Khong tu tap (no gathering) – Khai baoy te (health declaration), businesses and organisations must follow healthministry's COVID-19 regulations, while local authorities would carry outinspections and hand out punishments for offending individuals andorganisations (including suspension of organisations' operations).

At codeyellow, other than measures prescribed for code green, contact tracing,localised lockdown and quarantine will be carried out, while high-risk sites -bars, karaoke, dance clubs, massage venues - will be closed, and restrictionson large gatherings will be applied.

At codeorange, additional measures will be implemented, including halting largegatherings of more than 30 people, no gathering of 10 people outside of theworkplace, keeping a distance of two metres in public; reducing traffic andnumber of passengers on public transport vehicles; reducing people at workplaceand promoting working from home; school curriculum and schedule could beadjusted, and health declarations would be required for all people in thelocality.

At code red,social-distancing order will be carried out for at least 14 days; with theclosure of non-essential services and businesses, cultural and religious,sports activities halted, people must keep a distance of two metres whilegathering larger than three people outside the workplace or schools orhospitals are forbidden, while public transport is stopped completely.

Minister ofHealth Nguyen Thanh Long said: "From our experience dealing with previousoutbreaks of the coronavirus and especially with the current fourth wave ofinfections, the decree established a number of protocols such as lockdownmeasures or more flexible approach to centralised quarantine requirement inareas with a large population that might make it difficult to control thespread or to manage overcrowded centralised quarantine facilities."./.