The Asialyst, a French online newspaper specializing in news from Asia, recently posted an article that highlighted Vietnam’s achievements in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Testing samples at the disease control centre of Da Nang city (Photo: VNA)

In his article, French expert Jean-Raphaël Chaponnière said Vietnam has been successful with its “low-cost” strategy.

Its small number of cases and zero fatalities have surprised many, especially as it has invested little in its healthcare sector, he wrote. Ho Chi Minh City, for example, has only 900 intensive care beds, or one per 9,000 inhabitants.

He also highlighted the quick response by the Vietnamese Government when the first cases were reported in Wuhan in December and when the first case in Vietnam was reported on January 23.

Vietnam decided to suspend all flights between Vietnam and China on February 1, closed land borders with its northern neighbour, and shut schools after the lunar New Year holiday (Tet) in late January.

According to Chaponnière, Vietnam has given priority to a “low-cost” strategy in the COVID-19 fight by systematically tracing those with possible contact with infected patients (known as F1, F2, F3, and F4), and quarantined all to control the risk of further infection.

He emphasized that the rate of infection in Vietnam is substantially lower than elsewhere around the world, despite it sharing a border of more than 1,000km with China.

This is a major success, he said, as Vietnam’s financial capacity is limited compared to developed countries.