Vietnam reported its first two cases of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19)11 On February 11, 2002, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization announced COVID-19 as the name of the disease causing the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak (https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1227297754499764230). on January 23, 2020. As the number of cases rose to six on February 1, the Government of Vietnam declared the outbreak an epidemic. The Prime Minister established a National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control chaired by a Deputy Prime Minister. This multi-ministerial committee is instrumental in communications with public and conducting epidemiological response activities. The Committee, for example, launched a mobile application to mitigate the rise of coronavirus cases in the country. The application, which is instrumental in identifying localities with community spread, enabled citizens to frequently update their health conditions and report suspected cases in their communities.22 Giang, H. (2020, March 9). Health declaration app launched in support of Covid-19 combat. VGP News. http://news.chinhphu.vn/Home/Health-declaration-app-launched-in-support-of-COVID19-combat/20203/39108.vgp At the heart of the success of the Vietnamese government in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic is its ability to deploy provincial governments effectively. The national steering committee structure is mirrored at the provincial level. Provincial steering committees supervise and detect infections early, monitor border crossings, airports, and seaports, particularly for passengers coming from affected areas. Provincial governments offer free testing and treatment to those who are found positive and enforce wearing facemasks in public spaces.33 Giang, H. (2020, March 11). Steering committee convenes meeting amid complicated developments of COVID-19 outbreak. VGP News. http://news.chinhphu.vn/Home/Steering-Committee-convenes-meeting-amid-complicated-developments-of-COVID19-outbreak/20203/39132.vgp The World Health Organization applauded the proactive public health practices of the Vietnamese government and praised it as a multi-sectoral collaboration within the government.44 Nguyen, S. (2020, February 28). Coronavirus miracle? Vietnam says all its infected patients cured. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/infected-patients-vietnam-cured-coronavirus-miracle-200228035007608.html. See also La et al. (2020) and Tran et al. (2020) for more on local government response and public health system in Vietnam. All of these efforts kept the infection rate very low in Vietnam. By the middle of June, 95% of all COVID-19 cases (about 325 cases) had been treated, and there were no reported deaths. However, in July there was a deadly outbreak in the Da Nang province. Cases suddenly surged after more than 3 months with no serious community spread. In early August, the country had the first COVID-19 death, a toll that has risen to more than 10 since then. This recent local outbreak highlights the volatility of the situation. As the case and death numbers are evolving, we present an analysis based on the numbers by the end of June. With the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic the government's efforts to strengthen the intergovernmental system and to capacitate subnational governments have been put a test. Vietnam has been strengthening its intergovernmental system for the last three decades. Since 1975, Vietnam has gradually decentralized expenditure responsibilities to subnational governments. The first State Budget Law of 1996 has formally mandated the central government to decentralize service delivery responsibilities to provincial governments. The revised State Budget Law 2002 (came into effect in 2004), devolved more autonomy to provincial governments to promote sustainable development to accommodate local preferences and to promote equity and efficiency in service delivery. Today, subnational governments are responsible for nearly 60% of total government spending, which is nearly 30% of the Gross Domestic Product. As Vietnam has gone through its decentralization reform over the years, there has been an effort to improve the capacity of local governments as well (Dell, Lane, & Querubin, 2015). In Vietnam, provincial governments are a critical part of the coronavirus response as they play important roles in four areas: Increasing the level of local public health service delivery: In Vietnam, provincial governments are directly or directly involved in the provision of local public health services. In Dan Nang, for example, the provincial government has set up a 2000-bed field hospital at the Tien Son Sports Center responding to an outbreak that has spread to at least 11 locations in August. In addition, provincial governments play an important role in increasing the testing capacity in response to the pandemic55 http://www.tuyengiao.vn/thoi-su/thanh-uy-ha-noi-chi-dao-tang-cuong-kiem-tra-chong-dich-covid-19-129336 (in Vietnamese). Preventing transmission and epidemiological investigations and tracking: Beyond the role that provincial governments play in providing public health services, they play an important role in preventing transmission of the disease. They take actions, such as closing non-essential businesses, and enforcing social distancing, to contain the spread of viruses. For example, subnational authorities instituted a strict lockdown and shut down all non-essential businesses and started enforcing social distancing strictly after local outbreak in Hai Duong66 Chinh, G. (2020, August 17). Thirteen people fined for skipping medical declaration after restaurant visit. VNExpress International. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/13-people-fined-for-skipping-medical-declaration-after-restaurant-visit-4147581.html and Da Nang77 Dong, N. (2020, August 13). Da Nang fines over 400 for flouting social distancing rules. VNExpress International. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/da-nang-fines-over-400-for-flouting-social-distancing-rules-4145894.html provinces Mitigating the impact of the pandemic on other local public services: Provincial governments play an important role in reviewing and adjusting (and in some cases, temporarily suspending) the provision of public services to reduce the spread of the virus. Sixty-one out of 63 provinces took early actions and closed schools and colleges/universities to avoid further spread of the virus Supporting social and economic relief activities: In Vietnam, provincial governments are at the forefront of providing social and economic relief. High density provinces, such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), have been very proactive in the fight against the pandemic. Both provincial governments designated hotels and student dorms as institutional quarantine sites. HCMC is receiving patients from other affected areas in the south. In addition, HCMC authorities are setting up a network of facilities for institutional quarantine. The city installed additional negative-pressure isolation rooms in hospitals. Hanoi launched a mobile smart-city application, which provides updates and live locations of the COVID-19 cases to help city residents to be more vigilant In this section, we analyze the relationship between the capacity of provincial governments and the prevalence of COVID-19 cases by using two indices. The analysis highlights that there is a strong correlation between provincial performance measures and the number of COVID-19 cases.88 Information about COVID-19 cases in each province is available on the Ministry of Health website (https://ncov.moh.gov.vn/). For example, there is a negative relationship between the provincial governance and public administration performance index (PAPI) and the number of COVID-19 cases per 1000 persons (Figure 1).99 The PAPI is a comprehensive measure of local governance and performance of provincial governments in Vietnam. It is a product of collaboration between the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It has the following eight dimensions: participation at local levels; transparency; vertical accountability; control of corruption; public administrative procedures; public service delivery; environmental governance; e-governance. There is a sub-index for each dimension and there are a total of 29 sub-dimensions. The PAPI has a maximum score of 80, where each of the eight dimensions has a maximum score of 10. See http://papi.org.vn/eng/gioi-thieu/for more information on the index, its dimensions and sub-dimensions. Figure 1 shows this relationship for 11 provinces that had five or more COVID-19 cases as of June 10, 2020. Four of those provinces that have lower than average COVID-19 cases per 1000 persons also had higher than average PAPI in 2019. At the same time, four other provinces with lower than average PAPI, including Ha Noi, had higher than average COVID-19 cases per 1000 persons. Overall, there is a correlation of −0.38, which shows a clear negative relationship between provincial governance and COVID-19 cases. COVID-19 cases and provincial governance and public administration performance. Vietnam Ministry of Health, Vietnam Ministry of Health, https://ncov.moh.gov.vn and the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), http://papi.org.vn/eng/du-lieu-papi/ [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] Figure 2 shows an even higher negative correlation (−0.74) between the number of COVID-19 cases per 1000 persons and the provincial competitiveness index (PCI).1010 The PCI was started in 2005 as a joint effort between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It measures the capacity of provincial governments in solving problems. See https://pcivietnam.vn/en/about-us.html for general information on the PCI. The PCI is mainly an indicator of business environment in Vietnam's provinces but some components of the index are directly related to the quality of governance at the local level.1111 PCI is based on an annual business survey. It is a weighted average of ten sub-indices including entry costs, land access and security of tenure, transparency and access to information, times costs and regulatory compliance, informal charges, policy bias, proactivity of provincial leadership, business support services, labor and training and legal institutions. The PCI has a maximum score of 100, where each of the ten sub-indexes has a maximum score of 10. See https://pcivietnam.vn/en/about/pci-methodology.html for more on the index and its components. Five of the provinces, including Ho Chi Minh City, that have lower than average COVID-19 cases per 1000 persons also had higher than average PCI in 2019. COVID-19 cases and provincial competitiveness. Vietnam Ministry of Health, Vietnam Ministry of Health, https://ncov.moh.gov.vn and the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), https://pcivietnam.vn/en/pci-data [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] In the case of pandemics, a common view is that the power and resource advantage of the central government means that it is best positioned to implement an effective response. However, there are considerable potential gains from an effective intergovernmental response to pandemics. As countries around the world go through the pain of fighting a deadly pandemic, the policy advice is to use subnational governments effectively in the fight against the COVID-19. Recently, some countries, including the United States, are criticized for the lack of intergovernmental coordination and appropriate response by the central government (Haffajee & Mello, 2020).1212 See the Economist article “Covid-19 and America's Political System,” at https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/04/02/covid-19-and-americas-political-system The case of Vietnam shows us that central-local government coordination and all-of-government response are critical for the success of policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The joint efforts of all levels of government managed to contain the spread of the disease. As a result, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has not been too alarming in Vietnam. While we find negative correlations between the number of COVID-19 cases and two different provincial capacity indices, both the PAPI and PCI, these should not be interpreted as causation. It is important to note that PAPI, PCI, and their constituent components are readily available annually at the provincial level. We hope that our commentary would encourage more empirical research on COVID-19 and the local government response as more data become available in the future.