Hanoi (VNA) – The international community has attributed Vietnam’s remarkable achievements in taking on COVID-19 to the close cooperation between the country’s Government and its people.
Scott Hammel is an
international student advisor at California State University, Fullerton. He has
a personal connection with Vietnam, as he lived and worked in the country from
2011 to 2012 and has a beautiful half-Vietnamese daughter. He kept a close eye
on the COVID-19 situation in the country throughout the crisis.
Scott Hammel and his daughter (Photo: Scott Hammel)Scott and his
daughter Maia had a two-month holiday in Vietnam just recently in summer 2019.
Shortly after returning home he heard for the first time about a strange respiratory disease
breaking out in China and spreading to neighbouring countries, including
Vietnam. He felt a huge sense of relief that he had left already, but has now changed
his mind after seeing how the outbreak has been handled.
“When the virus
started to spread outside of China in January my first thought was ‘I’m glad we
returned to the US.’ Now I’m wishing we had stayed in Vietnam,” Scott told the
Vietnam News Agency.
Vietnam’s
approach to tackling the coronavirus epidemic has been in large part determined
by its system of government and its citizens’ willingness to make sacrifices
for the overall well-being of society.
“My personal opinion is that Vietnam’s approach has been very effective and Western countries would do well to re-evaluate the ‘society vs individual’ balance,” says Scott Hammel (Photo: Scott Hammel)Indeed, most
Vietnamese people are willing to cooperate with the Government in dealing with
the pandemic, due to the Government’s consistent approach of putting people’s
well-being before economic benefits.
The approach was
affirmed in a report from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc presented to the
national cadres conference in Hanoi on April 23 to discuss the COVID-19 fight
and identify measures for socioeconomic stabilisation and development. The
report restated Vietnam’s consistent view that “fighting the pandemic is like
fighting a war”. In response to the appeal from the Party and the PM, people
and soldiers at home and abroad came together to fight , according to
the report. Vietnam’s approach could be summarised as “prioritising
prevention”, “locking out external risks, zoning epidemic-hit areas and
stopping it from spreading, using effective treatment,” and, most importantly,
“accepting short-term economic losses to protect people’s health.”
“Vietnam is a
leading example for countries to study and follow,” said Japanese American
Krista Aoki. “As an outsider, (I saw that) it’s clear Vietnam chooses a people-first
approach – take care of the people first, worry about the economy later.”
Vietnam had recorded
zero fatalities as of May 18, making it stand apart from many countries around the
world, where the number of infections is in the thousands or even tens of
thousands, and fatalities are high.
As at May 18, 260 COVID-19 patients in Vietnam had been given the all-clear, raising the country’s recovery rate to over 80 percent (Photo: National Hospital for Tropical Diseases)Praising
Vietnam’s achievements in its fight against the virus, Amy Searight, Senior
Advisor and Director of the Southeast Asia Programme at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS), said: “Vietnam launched a rapid and
aggressive response to the coronavirus outbreak that so far has been highly
successful, with zero reported deaths.”
She attributed
the success to the country’s social mobilization, saying “the ability of the
Communist Party of Vietnam to mobilize society has been on full display through
clear public messaging, the ability to isolate individuals with symptoms and
track their second- and third-hand contacts, the quarantining of incoming
travellers, and the
enlistment of medical students, retired doctors, and nurses.”
Foreign media praises Vietnam’s achievements in COVID-19 control (Photo: VNA)Given the complicated
development of COVID-19 around the world, with 4.8 million affected and deaths totalling
316,000, Vietnam, with 320 cases of infection, including 180 imported cases, has
been one of only a few highlights in the global fight against the deadly
coronavirus. The achievements and joint efforts of both the Government and the people
of Vietnam have been praised by international media and organisations./.
Source: VietnamPlus
