Vietnam shares a border with China, yet it has reported no
deaths from COVID-19 and just 268 confirmed cases, when other Southeast Asian
nations are reporting thousands.
Experts say experience dealing with prior pandemics, early
implementation of aggressive social distancing policies, strong action from
political leaders and the muscle of a one-party authoritarian state have helped
Vietnam.
"They had political commitment early on at the highest
level," says John MacArthur, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's country representative in neighboring Thailand. "And that
political commitment went from central level all the way down to the hamlet
level."
With experience gained from dealing with the 2003 SARS and
2009 H1N1 pandemics, Vietnam's government started organizing its response in
January — as soon as reports began trickling in from Wuhan, China, where the
virus is believed to have originated. The country quickly came up with a
variety of tactics, including widespread quarantining and aggressive contact
tracing. It has also won praise from the World Health Organization and the CDC
for its transparency in dealing with the crisis.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently characterized
Vietnam's efforts as the "spring general offensive of 2020," a
reference to the 1968 Tet Offensive, which many claims helped turn the tide of
the Vietnam War.
Tens of thousands have been put in quarantine camps. By the
end of March, Vietnam had banned all international and domestic flights. The
government locked down the country on April 1. State-run media say the current
social distancing and stay-at-home orders are to be extended for at least
another week.
No comments:
Post a Comment