Vietnamese soldiers deliver food to residents of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on Tuesday.STRINGER / Reuters
Few countries in the world could boast of not having recorded a single death from covid-19 until August last year, and even fewer fell than the twenty daily infections in more than a year. Vietnam, yes. However, the delta variant of the virus is staggering those early successes. The Vietnamese government has deployed the Army this week in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City - in the south of the country - to force citizens to comply with the strict confinement decreed in the nation's financial capital, which has become the epicenter of the worst outbreak of covid-19 so far in the pandemic. Residents cannot leave their homes even to buy food and the Army is in charge of distributing food. Vietnam, which at the end of April had not exceeded the barrier of 3,000 infections throughout the country, now has more than 358.000 cases and exceeds 8,600 deaths.
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As has happened in other parts of the region, since the beginning of summer the incidence of coronavirus has skyrocketed in this Southeast Asian country of some 98 million inhabitants.
After a month in which the number of new infections and deaths grows at a dizzying rate, last Friday the Government announced that from this Monday a draconian isolation would begin in Ho Chi Minh City, which will last for two weeks.
Residents of ancient Saigon and the surrounding industrial provinces are prohibited from leaving their homes, even to buy food. "The population must remain still, completely isolated, each house, each community," announced the Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, after the Communist Party announced the dismissal of Nguyen Thanh Phong as head of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. (the City Council).
Measures to stop the spread of the virus began last June, when the mobility of citizens was restricted and meetings of more than two people were not allowed in public places. Residents could only leave their homes to purchase basic necessities or go to work for essential trades. Now, those who live in high-risk areas are totally prohibited from leaving their homes.
The images of supermarkets crowded with people trying to obtain groceries quickly flooded social networks after the announcement of the new confinement, and messages of panic and confusion have been very present during the weekend. Since Monday, in order to calm the population, state media have broadcast videos of the Army delivering food to city residents, as well as armed soldiers checking residents' documentation at some checkpoints.
"The city is prepared to take steps to provide food and essential goods to residents," said Phan Van Mai, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City novel coronavirus task force.
For its part, the government has announced that 130,000 tons of rice will be shipped from national reserves to ancient Saigon and 23 other cities and provinces.
According to Reuters reports on Tuesday, the military has delivered parcels of rice, meat, fish and vegetables to residents of Phu Nhuan and Go Vap districts.
14,600 displaced health workers
In order to avoid the collapse of the healthcare system, asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients have been asked to isolate themselves at home. In recent weeks, more than 14,600 health workers have traveled to the city and neighboring provinces. According to official figures, only in Ho Chi Minh City there have been more than 180,000 infections (half the national total) and 7,010 deaths, about 80% of those recorded in the nation. The outbreak in this industrial zone is attributed to the slow rate of vaccination in the country: despite having 23 million injections, only 1.8% of its almost 98 million inhabitants have received both doses of the vaccine.
On Monday the government reported that Vietnam had received two shipments of 501,600 doses of AstraZeneca from Poland and a donation of 200,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. This Tuesday, the Vietnamese Minister of Health reported in a statement that "Cuba will send a large batch of its local vaccine against covid-19, in addition to a team to support the transfer of production technology by the end of this year," although not you have specified the quantity. The Caribbean nation reported in June that its three-dose Abdala vaccine is effective in 92.28% of cases in the last phase of clinical trials. Vietnam is also in negotiations with the US company Pfizer to create a production plant in the country.
