Medical workers take samples of people for COVID-19 testing (Photo: VNA) Jakarta (VNA) – Vietnam’s latest success storyis in the health sector, senior journalist Veeramalla Anjaiah wrote in hisarticle, titled “Learning from Vietnam on how to handle COVID-19”, published onthe Jakarta Post on December 28.
According to the article, Vietnam, with 97.75 million people and a longborder with China, has just 1,438 COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths as of December25.
The journalist wrote it is amazing to see that a developingcountry like Vietnam can have a better health system and more effectivegovernment mechanism at a time when most developed countries are struggling tocope with the pandemic.
He quoted Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quangas saying that “There are many factors for Vietnam’s success. The first one isthe early response to the pandemic.”
The diplomat said Vietnam correctly predicted the impact ofthe novel coronavirus and took drastic actions in early January, even before ithad appeared in the country.
Echoing the opinion, Prof. Guy Thwaites, Director of the OxfordUniversity Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Ho Chi Minh City, was quoted in“How ‘overreaction’ made Vietnam a virus success”, published in the BBC on May15 as saying “It very, very quickly acted in ways which seemed to be quiteextreme at the time, but were subsequently shown to be rather sensible.”
According to the ambassador, Vietnam had been taking severalmeasures to contain the epidemic since January, including the implementation ofcontainment policies in the affected areas, closing the borders, and puttingtravel restriction on people.
He described the country’s policies on COVID-19 astransparent, cost-effective, intrusive and labor intensive oriented.
“I think Vietnamese people are obedient to government rules.They listen to [their] government. As a result, COVID-19 was effectivelycontained there,” said Sudharmono, a private employee in West Jakarta, as quotedby the author.
The Vietnamese ambassador noted that Vietnam and Indonesiahad agreed to work together to prevent and stop the spread of the disease.
“Vietnam in the role of ASEAN Chairman 2020 has activelycoordinated with Indonesia to organise the ASEAN Special Summit between ASEANand East Asian partner countries, special ministerial-level meetings and otherrelated meetings to discuss COVID-19 response measures,” Quang said.
“At the United Nations Security Council, the two countriesalso jointly promoted the adoption of relevant resolutions on pandemiccooperation,” he added./.
VNA
