Hanoi (VNA)- Foreign media and international organizations have praised Vietnam’s effortsin containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus, suggesting that other countriescould learn from its experience.

East Asia Forum ran an article on April 14 saying that Vietnam has been one ofAsia’s most successful in dealing with the pandemic.

It was among the first countries to impose strict containment measures, thepaper noted, even when COVID-19 was still confined to China.

The paper added that despite the negative effects COVID-19 had on itssocioeconomic development in the first quarter, “Vietnam may get out of thepandemic in better shape than others.”

“Despite expected growth in 2020 falling to 4.9 percent, it is among only a feweconomies in Asia Pacific - and perhaps the world - to still post growth,” itwrote.

“The Asian Development Bank, while predicting a sharp decline in GDP growth inVietnam, said its economy remains ‘uniquely robust’ in the subregion,” it wenton, adding that Vietnam’s success in curbing the pandemic may attract moreforeign investors, as will its traditional advantages of cheap labour,political stability, and proximity to China.

Physical distancing has also helped accelerate the country’s transition to adigital economy, which is considered by the government to be a pillar ofsustainable growth, the paper noted.

A day earlier, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) published anarticle highlighting anti-pandemic activities undertaken in Vietnam.

Despite its border with China, it wrote, Vietnam, thanks to a combination ofearly decisive action, extensive testing, vigorous quarantining, and socialunity, has avoided greater losses and confined the number of confirmed cases tothe mere hundreds, with no fatalities.

It emphasized that “much of Vietnam’s success can be ascribed to its socialunity.”

On April 12, Resident Representative of the UN Development Program (UNDP)Caitlin Wiesen congratulated Vietnam on its success in combating COVID-19, withmore than half of all patients having fully recovered.

UNDP donated 20,000 high-quality surgical masks to the Ministry of Health tohelp protect healthcare workers on the frontlines in fighting the pandemic.

WHO Representative to Vietnam Kidong Park said previously that the country hasresponded proactively and early to the outbreak. Its first risk assessmentexercise was conducted in early January - soon after cases began being reportedin China.

Meanwhile, Christoph Dölitzsch - a researcher at the Berlin-based DaliaResearch Institute - said Vietnam has the ability to control any increase ininfections, in stark contrast to many other countries around the world.

According to its largest survey on COVID-19, some 62 percent of respondents inVietnam say their government is doing the “right amount” in response to thepandemic./.