Volunteer medical staff of the Vietnam-Sweden Hospital Uong Bi in Quang Ninh province  come to Bac Giang to support the fight against COVID-19. (Photo: Ngan Ha/VNA)

The article on devpolicy.org said, “Throughout the past 18 months, over three waves of outbreak, the Vietnamese government has honed a highly proactive approach to managing the spread of the virus in the community that prioritizes addressing degrees of contact and not simply the manifestation of the symptoms of illness. Once a case is identified, it is characterized as F0. Anyone who has had direct contact with an F0 becomes an F1 and is quarantined in government facilities. The next degree of separation – F2 – is required to self-isolate for two weeks.” 

The whole system is underpinned by generally reliable and timely data and communications, said the article, predicting that like everywhere across Asia, Vietnam will also suffer the long-term effects of economic slowdown, but the Vietnamese economy is the least affected and is expected to recover fastest in Southeast Asia.

“The government’s ability to keep the virus at bay is the key factor in this success,” said the article.