Abstract
Having geographical proximity and a high volume of trade with China, the first country to record an outbreak of the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Vietnam was expected to have a high risk of transmission. However, as of 4 April 2020, in comparison to attempts to containing the disease around the world, responses from Vietnam are seen as prompt and effective in protecting the interests of its citizens, with 239 confirmed cases and no fatalities. This study analyzes the situation in terms of Vietnam’s policy response, social media and science journalism. A self-made web crawl engine was used to scan and collect official media news related to COVID-19 between the beginning of January and April 4, yielding a comprehensive dataset of 14,952 news items. The findings shed light on how Vietnam—despite being under-resourced—has demonstrated political readiness to combat the emerging pandemic since the earliest days. Timely communication on any developments of the outbreak from the government and the media, combined with up-to-date research on the new virus by the Vietnamese science community, have altogether provided reliable sources of information. By emphasizing the need for immediate and genuine cooperation between government, civil society and private individuals, the case study offers valuable lessons for other nations concerning not only the concurrent fight against the COVID-19 pandemic but also the overall responses to a public health crisis.
Highlights
The number of infections more than two months from January 23 when the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Vietnam, in China had skyrocketed from 600 people, with 17 deaths to 82,526 cases with 3330 deaths [3]
More than 1200 drug stores were penalized and over 313,000 face masks were seized [35]. Another action taken by the government was the introduction of technological platforms, including the website http://ncov.moh.gov.vn and the NCOVI and Vietnam Health apps, to provide updated information about the epidemic, including testing data, advice on precautionary measures and live chat for questions related to COVID-19 [36]
National Steering Committee for COVID-19, had hastily announced on March 4 that: “If another week passes without new cases, Vietnam will announce the end of the epidemic” [43]
Summary
“Dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.”. “Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés.”. The number of infections more than two months from January 23 when the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Vietnam, in China had skyrocketed from 600 people, with 17 deaths to 82,526 cases with 3330 deaths [3]. Vietnam was among the first countries to have confirmed cases of COVID-19, with the first two outbreak in Vietnam, namely (i) pre-January 23, (ii) between January 23 and February 26 when the patients (both Chinese) detected on January 23 [5]. Figure shows, compared to other countries, the infection rate in Vietnam was lower than that in China, Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. The case of Vietnam provides empirical evidence for assessing the efficacy of specific measures in fighting the pandemic
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