Strong efforts help Vietnam stay firm amidst COVID-19

 Hanoi (VNA) – Amidst the complicated developments
of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world with over 85 million confirmed cases and
1.84 million deaths in 215 countries and territories, Vietnam has applied
drastic responding measures with the spirit of “fighting the pandemic is like
fighting an enemy”.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has called on people in cities
and provinces nationwide to strictly follow a “” (in Vietnamese) – Khau trang (facemask), Khu khuan (disinfection),
Khoang cach (distance), Khong tu tap (no gathering), Khai bao y te (health
declaration) – to help citizens get used to living safely with the
in the “new normal”.

Recently, in a
Government meeting on , the PM has once again stressed
that the country is in the period of preventing and combating the pandemic in
an active and responsible manner, highlighting the need to implement the 5K
message.

Experts attributed
Vietnam’s success in controlling the pandemic to the country’s efforts to roll
out a series of strong and effective measures against the pandemic.

However, they held
that Vietnam will have to continue maintaining the measures for a long time which
is enough to form a regular habit to live safely amidst the pandemic.

“The 5K message is
line a ‘steel shield’ protecting us from COVID-19,” said Deputy Minister of
Health Nguyen Truong Son.

Meanwhile, Associate Prof Dr Tran Dac Phu
underlined that the implementation of the “5K message” is significant as “this
is the best way to prevent the pandemic to affect ourselves and the community”.

Most recently, on December 22, Patient 1,435 returning home from Britain and
quarantined in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh upon arrival was confirmed
to be infected with the new virus strain.

Following the detection of the case, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has proposed
to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that should be suspended or
limited from countries and territories where new variants of the SARS-CoV-2
virus are found.

The minister noted that 34 countries had announced the detection of new
COVID-19 variants as of January 3.

On December 18, 2020, the World Health Organisation reported that a new variant
of SARS-CoV-2 virus was found in the UK, which is said to be 70 percent more
transmissible than the old one. It is spreading to other countries rapidly.

So far, more than 40 countries territories have restricted travel from/to the
UK and other countries that have reported cases with the virus variant.

Germany and the Netherlands have been the first to close the border with the
UK, while France has requested travellers to take quarantine and show proof
that they have been tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.

Meanwhile, Spain and Turkey have banned immigrants from the UK until the end of
January. The US and the rest of Europe have also reduced the number of flights
to the UK.

Japan has announced the ban of all entries until the end of this month, while
Indonesia has refused to receive travellers from the UK./.