Foreign experts value Vietnam’s response to latest COVID-19 outbreak

In a BBC article published on August 8, Prof Michael Toole, an epidemiologist and principal research fellow at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne (Australia), said: “Like in the first wave, Vietnam has responded quickly and forcefully” when talking about the sudden resurgence of the coronavirus in Da Nang.

This central city sealed itself off from visitors and retreated into full lockdown after Patient 416, the first case of local infection after 99 days without community transmission in Vietnam.

Each resident is set to be tested for the virus, and a field hospital has been erected as every resource is thrown at slowing the spread of the disease, according to the article.

Meanwhile, Hanoi has closed down bars and karaoke parlours as an extra precaution, and several cities, including the capital and Ho Chi Minh City, have made face masks compulsory again in public places.

Prof Rogier van Doorn, Director of the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit noted: “What was successful before is being done again. I'm again impressed.”

Dr Justin Beardsley, a senior lecturer in infectious diseases at Australia’s University of Sydney, told BBC that Vietnam showed exceptionally strong community engagement when it came to curbing spread of the virus.

"There was big national pride about controlling the pandemic,” he added.

For her part, Dr Huong Le Thu, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the new deaths reported shows that there is transparency in reporting COVID-19 in Vietnam and that previous 'no deaths' should have not been questioned in the first place.

All the fatalities so far have been older patients with co-morbidities.