April 18, 2020
[Minh Vu is a graduating student of the Master of Arts in Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University. He has worked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), East-West Center in Washington, and is currently an assistant at the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, Inc.
Bich T. Tran is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Antwerp. She is a visiting fellow at the Global Affairs Research Center and a former Asia Studies Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center in Washington.]
(lightly edited and summarized for length)
Vietnam planned to have a year packed with activities as the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for 2020 and a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term. However, the pandemic has led to the cancellation or postponement of events and summit meetings. Some say the outbreak has derailed Vietnam's diplomatic ambitions, the door remains open for Hanoi to transfer its domestic success in fighting the disease into diplomatic achievements. As the world enters the 4th month of the pandemic, Vietnam boasts a low infection rate in a country of 95 million people: only 268 confirmed cases (97 active and 171 recovered) with no deaths as of April 17. This statistic is even more impressive given the long border with China, where the virus originated. To discuss Vietnam's success and its political implications.
Timeline
Vietnam prepared for the outbreak before it recorded its first case. The Ministry of Health issued dispatches on prevention to relevant government agencies on January 16 and to hospitals and clinics nationwide on January 21. Vietnam recorded its first cases on January 23 in Ho Chi Minh City. Two Chinese nationals from Wuhan arrived in Vietnam on January 13 and traveled throughout the country before being hospitalized on January 23. Then the Vietnamese government ramped up its response by organizing the National Steering Committee on Epidemic Prevention on January 30, the same day the World Health Organization declared the outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. On February 1, when the country only recorded 6 cases, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc declared a national epidemic of what was then known only as the novel coronavirus.
On February 9, the Ministry of Health held a teleconference with the WHO and 700 hospitals at all levels nationwide to disseminate information on nCoV prevention and launched a website to disseminate information to the wider public.
On February 11, the WHO officially named the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19. Aggressive preventive action enabled Vietnam to contain the outbreak, with 16 cases, all recovered, by the end of February. The 16th patient was confirmed on February 13 and fully recovered on February 25, meaning that Vietnam went 22 days without any new cases. The U.S. Center for Diseases Control (CDC) decided to take Vietnam off the list of countries with the risk of community spread of the virus.
That early success was impeded by the discovery of patient 17. The patient traveled from Hanoi on February 15 to visit England, Italy, and France before returning to Hanoi on March 2 and failed to follow quarantine protocols. Patient 17 was hospitalized on March 6, and two days later, on March 8, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Vu Duc Dam declared that Vietnam had officially entered the second phase of the fight against COVID-19.
Similar to the first phase, marked by the epidemic declaration, the Vietnamese government escalated its public health response to flatten the curve. On March 10, the Ministry of Health launched the health declaration mobile application NCOVI to help the public report their medical conditions and follow the contact tracing operation, just before the WHO declared a global pandemic on March 11. This 2nd phase marked the transition from phase 1, in which patients mostly originated from China, to a period when many countries were potential sources of the virus.
The transition into the third phase was faster. Following the detection of two new clusters with unclear origins in Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi (patients zero there were patients 86 and 87) and Buddha Bar in HCM City (patient zero was patient 91 overall), the Vietnamese government suspended foreign entry on March 22, and all exceptions, including national returnees, are subjected to medical checks and mandatory 14-day quarantine.
On March 23 the prime minister declared the third phase of the pandemic fight as the risk of community spread is high. When Bach Mai Hospital, one of the country's top referral hospitals, became the largest and most complex hotbed of COVID-19 in Vietnam following a record of 10 cases linked to the hospital on March 28, on March 30, Prime Minister Phuc announced a nationwide pandemic during a meeting with the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. The following day on March 31, the prime minister issued a new directive that would place the nation under limited lockdown effective April 1. The directive enforced national isolation, banned gatherings, and encouraged staying home, closing borders, and implementing quarantine policy, among others.
Explaining the Success
Vietnam's model for containing the outbreak has been touted as a successful low-cost model. Whereas its neighbors, Taiwan and South Korea, could afford mass testing, Vietnam lacked the resources and opted for selective but proactive prevention. Aside from some common policy actions such as contact tracing, ramping up production of medical supplies, and installing checkpoints at airports, Vietnam found its success in proactiveness. Over the course of 3 months since the first case, Vietnam has restricted movements where needed, balancing overt caution with precision.
For example, the provincial authority was allowed to lock down villages and communes following advisory notices from the Ministry of Health. Since the first cases emerged, there were only 5 instances of large-scale lockdowns. The first was on February 13 when Vinh Phuc Province confirmed the 16th patient in Son Loi Commune, Binh Xuyen District. On the same day, local authorities locked down the commune of 10,000 people, which confirmed eight patients and established two field hospitals in Vinh Yen Town.
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