05/24/2020 - 19:27
- Clarín.com
- international
The country that resisted for more than twenty years and wore down the United States Army in the so-called Second Indochina War, is once again a focus of world attention for the results of its battle to stop the coronavirus pandemic.
Vietnam, which has a border of more than a thousand kilometers with China, has confirmed so far only 325 infected people and 265 recovered. And the most striking thing is that it did not register deaths due to Covid-19 .
Why this situation? To several measures taken by the Communist Party, the only political force that governs, that managed to contain the virus in Phase 1. And everything indicates that it carried out a solid work of containment.
Vietnam ignored the words of the World Health Organization when it discouraged the use of face masks . There they were compulsory in the country. And in a short time it went much further, contradicting the world body in almost everything. Very soon, it restricted travel and was one of the first countries to put a lock on or impose quarantines on everyone who entered the country, whether they were residents or not.
Hanoi, the most important city in Vietnam, maintains social isolation in restaurants. Photo / EFE
Vietnam's strategy: rigorous confinement and strict follow-up of infections
The West Lake in Hanoi. The social quarantine has been lifted and a trial period begins in the population. Photo / AFP
Vietnam is one of the poorest countries in the region. It does not have the technological or economic capacity, for example, of Korea to carry out massive tests in short periods of time.
Nor does it have an optimal sanitary structure. In fact, Nguyen Thanh Phong, the mayor of Ho Chi Minh City, which is around eight million inhabitants, announced that he only has around 900 beds for intensive medical care.
So the Vietnamese government bet on a drastic solution: mandatory and rigorous confinement of the entire population . And, at the same time, a close follow-up of the infected people. For example, a person might be called because they had gone to a restaurant the same day that they had a positive case and were forced to go through strict quarantine.
Official propaganda in Hanoi for the population to use, in a compulsory way, the masks. Photo / EFE
Another key was that I took these measures long before China . A municipality near Hanoi, with more than 100,000 inhabitants, was entirely quarantined for three weeks starting on February 13. As of that date, there were ten confirmed cases throughout the country.
In addition, classes were suspended at all levels since February and people traveling to the country had to be in quarantine for fifteen days.
Absolute control of the population
The army and other state security organs, distributed in the territory by the Vietnamese CP, played a fundamental role in monitoring the behavior of the population.
In each neighborhood, the military and social control authorities exhaustively followed any possible case of coronavirus. In addition, those infected with COVID-19 were publicly marked on social media .
Propaganda of the Communist Party of Vietnam to raise awareness among the population. Photo / EFE
A warmongering tone was used in all the propaganda used by the State to raise awareness among the population. One of the examples is the proclamation: "Every business, every citizen, every neighborhood has to be a fortress to stop the epidemic!"
In addition, the entire population received text messages from the Ministry of Health, warning them about the disease and informing them about the rules of conduct, such as avoiding contact and hygienic measures.
The economic consequences of the pandemic in Vietnam
Street hairdressers started working in Hanoi. Little by little, the city resumes its rhythm. Photo / EFE
According to government figures, 3,000 companies had to close in the first two months of the year . And the State injected into the economy around one thousand one hundred million dollars to face the losses.
In addition, the population was called to make voluntary donations to stop, together with the government, the effects of the coronavirus on the economic development of the country.
Four months after the start of the pandemic in the country, he has accumulated 40 days without internal infections, a complete success.