Why Vietnam was able to nip the pandemic in the bud

Can Russia borrow successful experience in fighting infection from Vietnamese comrades? Once this republic  learned a lot from us. But now, it seems, our time has come to learn from Vietnam. In terms of size and number of citizens, Vietnam is not at all a tiny country like Singapore: 96 million people, 331,700 square  km of territory - they live quite closely. Coronavirus, according to the Italian principle, was supposed to put tens of thousands of Vietnamese in hospitals, but nothing of the kind happened. In the last 3 months of the epidemic in Vietnam, only 270 people were infected with COVID-19, and NONE of them died. How can this happen if in the developed countries of Europe, Asia and America millions of people are infected with the latest virus and hundreds of thousands of patients have already died?

The first case of infection in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was recorded on January 23, 2020 - an elderly Chinese man from the city of Wuhan (China) came to visit his son living in Hanoi and infected the poor man with a coronavirus. Both were admitted to Ho Chi Minh City Hospital. My son was discharged a week later, his father was held for 20 days. The authorities breathed out in unison, but then the Vietnamese who worked in China began to return home en masse. By February 7, there were 13 COVID-19 patients in the country: the number of infected was rapidly increasing.

All schools were closed, and the Communist Party formed a headquarters to fight the infection - the latter began to inspect hospitals in the country, finding out the preparedness for the epidemic. In the shortest possible time, the latest equipment was purchased for hospitals (including mechanical ventilation devices), the best doctors were mobilized, the number of hospital beds was increased. They did not regret the money. The reason for this reaction lies in the outbreak of SARS in 2003 - then 63 people were infected in Vietnam, 5 of them died. Despite the small number of victims, the government concluded that the infection should be stopped as quickly as possible and by any means possible.

For a start, quarantine was introduced selectively: they blocked the areas of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, where the sick and their families lived. The military patrolled the streets, and drones with electronic tracking functions were launched into the air. Food was delivered to people contactlessly, leaving food packages at the door; the state took upon itself the payment of food. They officially banned going out without a medical mask. Masks soon appeared in all pharmacies at the lowest prices, and in April volunteers distributed them on the street for free.

As soon as China announced the first case of a new type of virus infection on December 31, 2019, the Vietnamese government announced on the same day: public services, the army and the police should be ready for a large-scale epidemic, and the plan should be thought out now. In the EU and the US, the authorities realized only in the midst of a pandemic, and Vietnam acted in advance. During the lightning reaction and the harsh measures taken, the spread of coronavirus in Vietnam seriously slowed down - the number of patients went to tens, not thousands, as in neighboring China. But the Vietnamese leadership did not consider this a success and did not rest on their laurels. It closed flights to dangerous countries and limited movement around the country by canceling intercity buses. The quarantine of diseased Vietnamese was increased from 14 to 20, and in some cases to 40 (!) Days. On March 16, when the number of infected people reached 60, universal self-isolation was introduced in the republic. Since April 1, nothing has been working in Vietnam anymore - cafes and seaside resorts have closed, passers-by have disappeared from the streets, shopping centers and movie theaters have locked their doors.

A huge plus was the reaction from the population. People did not show discontent - they say that in warm weather they are not allowed to walk in parks and grill kebabs on the grill, and the government supported the choir: there has not been such consolidation and unity in Vietnam since the war with America. It played the role that Vietnam is a socialist one-party state. The Vietnamese had nipped the epidemic in the bud. The representative of WHO in the Republic of Kidun Park confirmed the success of the Vietnamese, saying: early response to the problem was the main success factor.

Author Georgy Zotov

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https://vkpb.ru/lenta-novostej/680-pochemu-vetnam-smog-zadushit-pandemiyu-v-zarodyshe.html
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