Is Vietnam more tolerant of Covid today?

[ASEAN NOW News]

Over the past two years, the Vietnamese government and its people have managed to contain the coronavirus while also keeping the economy afloat.

 

So have expats who at first had to rely on neighbors to tell them what was happening due to most regulations being posted in Vietnamese.

 

 

Though Vietnam has still recorded about 166,000 new infections every day for the past seven days, many people are feeling relaxed and confident, believing they can coexist with the coronavirus and regain control of their lives.

 

This is a far cry from the suspense and anxiety of early 2020 when Vietnam recorded its first cases of coronavirus infection.

 

When news of the virus hitting Asia beck in early 2019 it would be fair to say most were in panic mode, stock piling food and essentials while locking the door and surviving on the TV and internet to stay connected with the outside world.

 

Vietnam often had more stringent measures and earlier than advised by the World Health Organization (WHO), including being the first country to require mandatory health declarations for all foreign arrivals, which it did in early March 2020.

 

The government also suspended all international flights, shut down schools, and quarantined for 21 days a whole commune in the northern Vinh Phuc Province where a group of workers coming from abroad created Vietnam’s first Covid hotspot.

 

But these tough measures were alternated with easing up whenever possible to balance the government’s twin goals of protecting public health and maintaining economic growth.

 

Though this seesaw approach has not always worked smoothly and included some rash policies like the National Administration of Tourism campaign called ‘Vietnam - Safe Haven’ to attract foreign tourists in February 2020 when the pandemic was still in its early stage and which caused a spike in new infections, Vietnam managed to achieve 2.9 percent GDP growth in 2020, a rare feat then, and 2.6 percent last year.

During the pandemic, government actions received wholehearted public support.

 

In fact, in a survey of forty-five countries conducted by Germany-based Dalia Research in March 2020, the biggest global survey on coronavirus at the time, 62 percent of Vietnamese respondents, the highest rate of any country, thought their government was responding adequately to the situation.

 

Unlike in some western countries where government mandates became extremely politicized, most Vietnamese willingly wore masks, followed safety rules, and, starting in March 2021, got vaccinated to protect themselves and others.

 

During nationwide lockdowns, the government and the private sector acted quickly to ensure adequate supply of essential goods, prevent panic buying and speculation and keep prices steady, the study observed.

 

Now like hibernating bears, many of us have accepted that Omicron is milder than previous virus, and life is gradually returning to normality.

 

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