WB economist calls Vietnam ‘a bright star’ in COVID-19 fight
In his blog published on the World Bank website in late May, Jacques Morisset, World Bank Lead Economist and Program Leader for Vietnam, has called the country ‘a bright star in the COVID-19 dark sky’.
Streets in Hanoi have become crowded again after the Government eased social distancing measures in late April, 2020. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – In his blog published on the WorldBank website in late May, Jacques Morisset, World Bank Lead Economist andProgram Leader for Vietnam, has called the country ‘a bright star in theCOVID-19 dark sky’.
Based on a series of statistics including the local GDPstill expanding 3.8 percent in the first quarter of 2020, the economist realisedthe Vietnamese economy has been “extremely resilient during these unusual roughtime.”
He attributed the reasons behind the success to theGovernment’s smart policies, saying: “The quality of the Vietnamesegovernment’s COVID-19 response has been a combination of foresight andpragmatism.”
In conclusion, he wrote: “In the face of adversity, Vietnamhas been able to tap a long tradition of preparing for the worst while stayingflexible to adopt crucial reforms and transition toward the new normal. Thiscombination of foresight and pragmatism has been applied in the COVID-19 crisiswith considerable success.”
Morisset also said he hopes that such experience “can helpother countries that have been much less well-prepared for the crisis.”
Vietnam recorded no COVID-19 cases on June 2 morning,marking 47 days in a row without new infections in the community, according tothe National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control./.
GAVI, an international organisation that works to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children in the world's poorest countries, has published an article on its website gavi.org, highlighting the four ways Vietnam has managed to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canada’s Globe and Mail newswire on May 27 ran an article saying that Vietnam’s COVID-19 fighting record will stand out as a remarkable, perhaps unique, achievement, calling the country as a standard in the fight.
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Germany’s Marzahn-hellersdorf portal has run an article pointing to factors that contributed to Vietnam’s success in its battle against COVID-19, which include early action, contact tracing, and communications.
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Streets in Hanoi have become crowded again after the Government eased social distancing measures in late April, 2020. (Photo: VNA) 
