Visitors crowd a beach in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. The provincial government has made a decision to suspend many nonessential services, including bars, pubs and karaoke parlors, until further notice - PHOTO: NLDO

HCMC - The Ba Ria-Vung Tau government has made a decision to suspend many nonessential services, including bars, pubs and karaoke parlors, until further notice, while the beach is crowded with tourists.

The suspension was aimed at preventing the potential spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the local media reported.

Besides, the provincial government asked residents and units to restrict mass gatherings, cancel crowded cultural and religious events, suspend entertainment activities and strictly follow anti-Covid-19 protocols.

Other service providers must comply with Covid-19 infection prevention and control regulations, including wearing face masks, checking body temperature and spraying disinfectants.

From 4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. on April 30, the Vung Tau beach was crowded with tourists, with many of them wearing no face masks. The number of visitors to the beach was expected to surge this afternoon, May 1.

Even though the local authorities had earlier asked lodging facilities and the management boards of tourist sites to strictly comply with the the disease prevention regulations, large numbers of visitors made it hard for them to require bathers and tourists to wear face masks.