- Vietnam has reported 2,362 coronavirus cases and 35 deaths, despite its population of 97 million.
- Based on previous experience, Vietnam had a long-term plan to deal with the outbreaks.
- Tracking contacts, strategic tests, clear messages and wearing masks prevented massive blockages.
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Throughout the pandemic, each country implemented its own response to the virus – some better than others.
Countries like New Zealand, Australia and Taiwan have been praised for the speed with which their leaders have acted.
Before registering a single case of coronavirus, New Zealand imposed travel restrictions on February 3, 2020 for travelers from mainland China.
Australia has stricter rules than most other countries – allowing only residents to travel up to 3 miles from their homes.
In an opinion piece for Time magazine, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said the country’s success in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak “was no coincidence”.
“The painful lessons of the SARS outbreak in 2003, which left Taiwan marked by the loss of dozens of lives, put our government and people on high alert from the start,” wrote Ing-wen.
Not far away is Vietnam – which recorded 2,500 fewer cases of the new coronavirus and 35 deaths – with a population of 97 million people and bordering China, Cambodia and Laos.
The Thinktank The Lowy Institute published an index on January 28 ranking 98 countries and their success in treating the coronavirus pandemic. Vietnam ranked second, behind New Zealand. The USA came in 94th place.
But it was not praised like other countries for its success in combating COVID-19.
Vietnam’s early proactivity and focus on tracking contacts helped
Health officials collect smear samples from a member of the media during the coronavirus test at the government inn in Hanoi on January 18, 2021, before the 13th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
MANAN VATSYAYANA / Getty Images
In January 2020, Vietnam carried out its first risk assessment, immediately after the discovery of a set of “severe pneumonia” cases in Wuhan, China.
Guy Thwaites, an infectious disease physician who works at one of the main hospitals designated by the Vietnamese government to treat patients with COVID-19, told Insider that the government responded “very quickly and vigorously”.
“Schools were closed and there was a limit on the arrival of international flights,” said Thwaites. “The government did all the simple things quickly.”
Kamal Malhotra, United Nations resident coordinator in Vietnam, said the country’s success in dealing with the virus boiled down to three things: contact tracking, strategic testing and clear messages.
Instead of testing them all, they tested those identified in contact tracking. The borders were closed and everyone entering the country was quarantined in government facilities – for free.
Insider’s Kate Taylor was in Vietnam last February, when there were less than 20 cases in the country. Taylor said he saw an emphasis on safety measures, such as wearing a mask, knowing the symptoms of the virus and checking the temperature.
The country never entered a national blockade when trying to contain the virus
Drivers wear protective masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Hanoi on January 29, 2021, the day after Vietnam recorded its first coronavirus outbreak in almost two months.
MANAN VATSYAYANA / Getty Images
In an article for the United Nations, Malhotra wrote that the country announced a three-week quarantine across the village last February. Vietnam closed its border and suspended flights from mainland China, the UK, Europe and the rest of the world shortly thereafter.
When cases arise, areas with infections are closed in a closed place, where no one can enter or leave, Malhotra said.
Instead of blocking the entire country, the prime minister implemented measures of social distance across the country for two weeks in April.
In early May, people across Vietnam were largely able to return to their normal lives.
“The government has taken a zero-tolerance approach to getting rid of the virus,” said Thwaites. “Basic measures were implemented, but it was not easy. When people trust the government, people do what it says.”
Vietnam’s approach to fighting the virus deserves more recognition
A man wearing a face mask passes a public health campaign banner to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Hanoi on January 28, 2021.
NHAC NGUYEN / Getty Images
Vietnam had the potential to be a hot spot due to its location and population. But, using a low-cost model and implementing basic safety measures (such as washing hands and wearing a mask), he was able to contain the virus a few months after the pandemic.
No other country of the same size or population has contained the virus like Vietnam. With a population of 102 million, Egypt has recorded more than 176,000 cases of coronavirus, according to John Hopkins. The Democratic Republic of Congo – landlocked in the middle of the African continent – has registered more than 24,000 cases with a population of 89 million.
Despite sharing a border with the country where the outbreak began, it is worth telling Vietnam’s success story.
According to Malhotra, Vietnam had a better response in fighting the virus than New Zealand.
“It is absurd to compare countries with New Zealand,” he said. “We have much bigger challenges.”
Malhotra believes there is a prejudice against Vietnam’s success because of its system of government. Vietnam is a socialist country under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
“There is much skepticism that the government was not sharing data, but that is not true,” said Malhotra. “The data are recorded in real time and there is no coercion in the measures taken here”.
The people of Vietnam are learning to live in their new normality, but are still encouraged to distance themselves socially and wear masks.
Countries that have successfully controlled the virus have included rigorous strategies in their plans
People wear face masks while participating in a public countdown party on New Year’s Eve in the city center on December 31, 2020 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Linh Pham / Getty Images
Public health experts said that the Insider countries that limited the spread of coronavirus have a clear recipe: create a cohesive federal plan with consistent messages, get everyone to wear masks and implement widespread testing and contact tracking. Countries that are failing to contain their outbreaks lack at least one of these elements.
The United States does not have them all.
Conflicting messages from the White House and health officials, especially in the early months of the crisis, delayed security measures that could have saved lives.
Health officials exchanged ideas in the first few months about who should wear a face mask. First, it was just those in the medical field and those who were sick with the virus, the World Health Organization said last April. Shortly thereafter, WHO and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that everyone wear masks when going out in public.
Former President Donald Trump did not wear a mask in public until July, during a visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center – three days after the U.S. hit 3 million coronavirus cases. Two weeks later, the cases reached 4 million.
Once the U.S. is able to control the outbreak, contact tracking can be done again
A health worker wearing a protective suit and face mask walks inside a quarantine area in the Thanh Tri district, on the outskirts of Hanoi, on March 20, 2020.
NHAC NGUYEN / Getty Images
The United States leads the world with the worst number of coronaviruses: more than 27 million cases and 494,000 deaths.
“When you start getting the number of cases in the hundreds and potentially thousands, it is almost impossible for contact trackers to be effective,” said Adrian Esterman, an epidemiologist at the University of South Australia, previously to Aria Bendix of the Insider.
Emma Hodcroft, a Swiss scientist studying the coronavirus genetic code, told Insider Aylin Woodward in November that the United States’ first step must be to keep its increase under control; then, cases can return to a level where testing and tracking are again effective.
While the United States’ response to COVID-19 has been chaotic and ineffective so far, President Joe Biden has made pandemic control a top priority.
In his early days as president, Biden returned to the WHO vaccine distribution program, encouraged the use of masks, introduced a $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill that would provide the necessary help to state and local governments , reopened schools and sent another round of stimulus checks to Americans.
“My first 100 days are not going to end the COVID-19 virus – I can’t promise that,” said Biden at a December 11 event in Delaware. “But we don’t get into this mess quickly, we won’t get out of it quickly. It will take some time.”