WHO praises Vietnam for quick defeat of Coronavirus, records no deaths

Vietnam has defeated coronavirus and presently have no record of deaths.

“Vietnam didn’t just flatten its coronavirus curve, it crushed it,” the Guardian reports.

No deaths have been reported, official case numbers have plateaued at just 271, and no community transmissions of the virus have been reported in the last two weeks.

On 23 April, the nation eased lockdowns in its major cities and life is gradually returning to normal. It is a stark contrast to many other nations including the US, where more Americans have died from Covid-19 than during the entire Vietnam war.

Kidong Park, the World Health Organisation’s representative to Vietnam, has praised the country’s response to the crisis.

Quarantining tens of thousands in military-style camps and vigorous contact tracing procedures have helped Vietnam to avoid the disasters unfolding in Europe and the US. After testing over 213,000 people, the nation has the highest test-per-confirmed-case ratio of any country in the world.

A creative public information campaign featuring viral handwashing songs and propaganda-style art helped, but it was decisive early action – hastened by a government praised for its response to Sars in 2003 – that proved most effective.

Park stresses the importance of education about the virus at community level, along with strengthening preventative measures in health facilities, offices, schools and other places where it is essential for people to go regularly.

But he warned of the economic consequences and this likely influenced the government’s decision to end the lockdown on 23 April.

Many non-essential services, such as bars and karaoke parlours, are still closed. Some will never recover. Constraints have been lifted for shops, hotels and restaurants, yet in a nation where tourism accounts for 6% of GDP, the future looks increasingly uncertain – especially when nobody has a clear idea of when borders will reopen.