Việt Nam has been praised for the way it has handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Although cases are increasing all over the world, Việt Nam has is virtually back to normal. But despite this success, there is no time for complacency.

Dr. Đặng Quang Tấn, head of the Preventive Medicines Department talks with Kiều Trinh & Minh Phương about how Việt Nam has managed the pandemic.

Dr Đặng Quang Tấn, head of the Preventive Medicines Department, talks about how Việt Nam has dealt with COVID-19. VNS Photo Minh Phương

Can you tell us the factors that helped Việt Nam control the COVID-19 pandemic so well?

We have implemented consistently the COVID-19 containment strategy from the beginning. To contain with the pandemic, we have carried out effective measures from supervising, tracking, to communicating with the participation of all forces including military, police, diplomacy and media. We still consistently follow that strategy.

There are some measures that we have done from the beginning. Firstly, we have adopted measures to control the external factors by strictly monitoring the border and people entering Việt Nam.

Secondly, we have acted quickly to detect those suspected of having COVID-19, so we can promptly quarantine them.

The third measure that we use is quarantine. Việt Nam has implemented quarantine on a large scale. People who enter the country must be quarantined. They will be quarantined in centralised places which are managed by the military forces or other private quarantined places such as hotels. By doing this, those suspected of having or those have COVID-19 will be detected and this will minimise infections in the community.

Testing is also very important. We performed tests to detect COVID-19 cases but we only perform tests at the right time with the right person to ensure the efficiency.

Việt Nam has successfully controlled the pandemic with the low-cost treatment. How did we apply this kind of treatment?

Việt Nam is a middle income country. If the COVID-19 pandemic spreads like many other countries, it will greatly affect the country’s economy.

The National Steering Committee has done well to contain the pandemic. By that, the relevant departments from ministries to local authorities can together co-ordinate and implement prevention activities in accordance with the Government’s order. That brings the efficiency and low-cost in treatment.

Preventive medical work is also very important. If we do this well, we will minimise infections, and reduce overcrowding in hospitals.

We can see that many nations have faced overcrowding in their hospitals, which is due to their poor preventive work, inadequate detection and isolation, lack of isolation or lack of good management of infected cases. That is why the number of infected people has increased and overloaded the hospitals.

We have done a good job of prevention from the start, so the number of patients in hospitals has been minimised.

Treatment can cure patients individually, but prevention can affect hundreds, even millions, of people.

Nearly 90 per cent cases in Việt Nam have been cured. Among those, there are many foreigners who travelled to Việt Nam and contracted COVID-19 here. What did we do to show the humane and equal spirit when treating foreigners?

When administering treatment, we never discriminate between Vietnamese or people from other countries. In the past, many foreigners, including tourists or experts, who came here to work were infected with COVID-19 and needed to be cured.

Our Law on Prevention of Infectious Diseases states that all the patients infected with the diseases in the 'A group' which includes severe respiratory infections caused by a virus must be treated.

The Vietnamese Government never distinguishes between people because of their nationalities. We receive and treat foreigners exactly the same as we do with Vietnamese. With a humane spirit, we cure them wholeheartedly and always try to find ways to give the best and most effective methods of diagnosis and treatment in the shortest time.

What are the lessons that we can learn after more than one year fighting the pandemic?

There are some lessons that we found important to us. They are the unity of all Vietnamese people and the participation of the entire political system from the central to local level in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Firstly, we have received drastic directions from the Party, the State, the Government, the Prime Minister and the National Steering Committee. Directions were given out swiftly with the spirit of “Fighting against the pandemic like fighting the enemy”.

Secondly, the unity of people is important also. The media has conveyed promptly and officially information to people so they can understand and strictly follow Government’s directions. — VNS