Vietnam is one of the poorer SouthEast Asian countries. It has a lower Gross Domestic Product compared to its neighboring countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
However, when it comes to epidemic containment, Viet Nam beats them all with only 267 cases and zero Covid-19 deaths as of this writing.
Vietnam was affected by the SARS epidemic in 2003. Even then, they were the first country to be free from SARS.
How did they do it? The Vietnamese confronted the epidemic with a warlike mentality. Historically, many countries have tried to occupy Vietnam. The Mongol Hordes under Kublai Khan’s Yuan three times. They lost on all tries.
The French, the Japanese, and the Americans and the People’s Liberation Army of China were also unsuccessful. Vietnam 5, Invaders 0.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said about this epidemic in social media, that the efforts to contain the present outbreak is like the “”spring general offensive of 2020”. A reference to the Tet Offensive in 1968 wherein the North Vietnamese attacked 100 cities and outposts simultaneously.
Vietnam went to war with the coronavirus from all fronts.
How did Vietnam control the pandemic?
A. Border Control
Like New Zealand, Vietnam is proactive right away. In war, you don’t want the enemy to gain a foothold in your territory.
Starting mid-December, according to the WHO, Vietnam already enacted epidemic prevention guidelines with close monitoring of border areas even when Wuhan had only 27 cases.
On January 11, when China confirmed the first death from Covid-19, Vietnam started medical control at all border gates and airports. Everyone’s body temperature was checked and monitored for symptoms upon arrival.
People with cough, fever, chest pain, or breathing difficulties were isolated for testing and sent to strictly controlled medical facilities.
On January 22, travel companies canceled their sight-seeing tours in Wuhan. Anyone who canceled their trips was given the maximum refund.
B. Winning the Minds thru Medical information
About 127 coronavirus related articles were published daily from January 9 to March 15. This information campaign left little room for rumors and fake news.
The result is that the Vietnamese do not view COVID-19 as another seasonal flu but as something serious like the 2003 SARS. During the SARS epidemic, Vietnam had 63 cases and 5 deaths.
An educational pop song, Ghen Co Vy, mas made by the Vietnam Ministry of Health to teach about the coronavirus infection and present preventive measures aim. The English version is below.
C. Precision Strikes by Targeted Testing
Vietnam does not have unlimited funds. To lower the cost, instead of testing everyone, they traced and tested the secondary and tertiary contacts. Vietnam has tested about 121,000 people.
In the beginning, the country bought 200,000 rapid COVID-19 test kits from South Korea. Later the Vietnam Military Medical University and tech firm Viet A Corporation developed its own low-cost test kits that give back results in an hour.
The rapid turn around is critical in deciding whether to quarantine or treat right away. If the citizens have to go home and wait for several days for the result, then there is a risk of infecting more people.
If the person turns out to be positive, then precious early treatment time is lost forever. The Covid-19 virus multiplies in the presymptomatic phase and initial phase.
To make contact tracing easier and save on manpower, the citizens shared their personal information using the NCOVI app.
D. Winning the Minds thru Technology
Social media is used by 61% of the 96 million Vietnamese. The quality of government-run dorms, health check-ups, and testing was shown on social media.
Hundreds of pictures of carefully packaged breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and midnight snacks were also presented with their reviews.
The information about the quarantine conditions and the food spread to the people such that the two-week isolation period is favorably perceived. That encouraged compliance.
The Rewards of the Vietnamese Strategy
According to Nguyen Huy Nga, former director of the Preventive Medicine Department at Vietnam’s health ministry, community spread has not happened so far, and the infected elderly are few.
“Our patients are few, so we have all the facilities, medicine and doctors to treat them. In addition, we have experience in developing disease treatment regimens,” she added, alluding to Vietnam’s earlier brush with the severe acute respiratory syndrome, another coronavirus.
Many countries have declared war against the coronavirus. The US, UK, Italy, and France. As of today, their Covid-19 deaths are in the tens of thousands.
The Vietnam strategy shows that an active science community, health education, effective communication, and cooperation between the government and citizenry are the weapons that can be used even by a relatively poor country to win a war against a global aggressor.
Feel free to share. Don’t miss an article. Subscribe for free with your email.
Don’t Get Sick!
Related Readings:
-
The Complete COVID-19 Articles
-
New Zealand has one of the lowest Covid-19 Death Rates at 0.3 %. Here’s what they did.
-
Will the Pandemic get Better with Warm Weather?
-
The Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Covid-19 are Equally Infectious
-
Physician Deaths from Covid-19
-
Can Talking Spread Viruses?
-
Why Scheduled Surgery Has to Wait in Covid-19
-
SARS-CoV-2 Contamination in the Hospital Setting
-
How Long Can the Covid-19 Virus Survive in Common Surfaces?
-
Zinc Deficiency Impairs the Immune System
-
Vitamin C and COVID-19
-
Any Science behind Elderberry for Influenza and Covid-19?
Image Credit: Map of the Covid-19 epidemic in Vietnam from By Night Lantern, BeeBeeSPC and Thanh2k2. – Own work, data from Reuters, VTC, Ministry of Health (Vietnam), Reuters, VnExpress, Tuổi Trẻ, Thanh Niên and Vietnam Insider, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86340262
© 2018 – 2020 Asclepiades Medicine, LLC All Rights Reserved
DrJesseSantiano.com does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment