Vietnam COVID-19 outbreak: Infection soaring and Epidemic out of control
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Vietnam COVID-19 outbreak: Infection soaring and Epidemic out of control
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Vietnam COVID-19 outbreak: Infection soaring and Epidemic out of control. Recruiting recovered patients into hospital services.
With immediate effect, Vietnam “recruits” people who have recovered from the COVID-19 pneumonia to engage in public medical services in medical institutions to ease the pressure on front-line medical care.
Reuters quoted a recruitment notice from a hospital saying that successful candidates will receive personal protective equipment, free food and accommodation, and a monthly allowance of 8 million VND (approximately US$352).
“Vietnam’s medical system has long been overwhelmed.” “Foresight” magazine reported that at the end of June this year, Vietnam had a total of about 17,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. By 18:00 on August 26, the total number of diagnoses exceeded 390,000, with a total of 9667 deaths. More than 8,300 deaths occurred in the last month, and 80% were reported by South Vietnam, centered on Ho Chi Minh.
On July 18, Cambodia announced that it would close its borders for one month to prevent Vietnamese company employees and experts from entering Cambodia in order to prevent imported cases from Vietnam.
“Before June, Vietnam was a model student for epidemic prevention. Now, the epidemic is spreading like a wind and cloud, and there is no turning point. The extremely low vaccination rate and ease of habit have made Vietnam a list of epidemic data in 220 countries and regions around the world. It has risen from 116th in May to 66th now.” “Foresight” magazine said.
Photo caption: Reconstruction of residential buildings in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and establishment of “No. 6 Field Hospital”. Doctors and nurses put cots in the corridors to treat patients diagnosed with COVID-19. /AFP
Anti-epidemic “overreaction” becomes a “Pandemic Prevention Model”
The BBC reported in 2020 that Vietnam has been a “epidemic prevention role model” for other countries for a long time, “creating achievements that have made the world impressive.”
On July 31, 2020, Vietnam reported its first death from COVID-19. At this time, the total number of confirmed cases in the country was less than 500, with only 5 confirmed cases per million people. In the same period, more than 17.43 million were diagnosed globally and more than 150,000 people died.
The total population of Vietnam is more than 98 million. Someone once questioned the “unreliable low” number of confirmed diagnoses. “We have no reason to doubt it.” According to “United Nations News”, a study as of July 2020 collected more than 20,000 nucleic acid results, which matched the number of confirmed diagnoses. This confirms that Vietnam’s epidemic prevention results are credible.
“Vietnam has experienced many epidemics, including SARS in 2003 and avian flu in 2010, as well as large-scale measles and dengue fever epidemics. The Vietnamese government and people know how to deal with infectious diseases.” According to “Foresight” magazine, its epidemic prevention Success lies in “overreaction to measures.”
In the early stage, Vietnam adopted the same “zero-clearing” strategy as China, and is known for its strict epidemic prevention strategy.
On January 23, 2020, Vietnam confirmed its first imported case. Subsequently, Vietnam issued tough travel restrictions, advising all people not to leave the country, and Vietnamese nationals living overseas are not allowed to return. Schools at all levels that are in the Spring Festival holiday announced the suspension of classes and did not resume classes until mid-May. On March 22, all foreign tourists were prohibited from entering the country.
On April 1, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc issued a national directive requiring people to maintain social distancing within two weeks to stop the spread of the virus in the community. The social distance in major cities and hotspots such as Ho Chi Minh needs to be implemented for 3 weeks. All non-essential businesses are closed and public transportation is restricted.
Todd Pollack, a member of the Harvard University Health Promotion Partnership Committee in Hanoi, Vietnam, told the BBC that the Vietnamese government had long predicted that its medical system would be overwhelmed by the outbreak. In order to delay or avoid the disintegration of the medical system, the government has adopted very strict and large-scale epidemic prevention measures. “When dealing with an unknown potential virus, the best way is to’overreact’ instead of underestimating it. Otherwise, it will be useless to remedy the situation until the epidemic has fully erupted.”
In terms of outstanding performance, Vietnam’s GDP will increase by 2.91% year-on-year in 2020. “This is one of the only economic growth countries in the world.” “Fortune” reported.
Photo caption: In mid-August 2021, the San Ren Club in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam installed an automatic “rice picking machine” to provide free rice to the people in difficulty affected by the epidemic. /VNA
Mutant strain + industrial ecology: The key to an “outbreak”
The turning point occurred in May of this year.
On May 23, local time, Vietnam held the election of representatives to the 15th National Assembly. More than 69 million voters cast their votes in about 80,000 polling places across Vietnam. Reuters quoted Congress Chairman Wang Tinghui as saying that the vote coincided with the first “most dangerous COVID-19 virus epidemic. This wave of epidemics has spread to nearly half of the provinces in the country, and many provinces are under lockdown.”
After the election, the number of daily confirmed cases in Vietnam has increased exponentially.
The BBC pointed out that this is because Vietnam’s “rival” has become a mutant strain of Delta. The strain spreads fast and has strong lethality. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergency Program, warned: “Delta is more infectious than other mutant strains.”
“Foresight” magazine analyzes that if the mutant strain Delta is the fuse of the out-of-control epidemic, then Vietnam’s industrial ecology is the fuel for the escalation of the epidemic.
Vietnam is a world-renowned and emerging consumer electronics center, and a textile and apparel manufacturing center. The operating characteristics of related factories are that a large number of workers gather in a confined space for a long time. Once someone is infected, the virus will spread quickly, and wearing a mask will not help.
Photo caption: Vietnam’s unique industrial ecology makes the epidemic “out of control”. /Foresight
Dr. Fan Mingde, a senior Vietnamese researcher at the Burnett Institute of Medical Research in Australia, said: “Now that more than 10,000 diagnoses are diagnosed every day, the hospital system is overwhelmed. Isolation wards are not enough. The medical staff is too busy to deal with them. The country’s medical situation is very critical.”
In August, the Vietnamese government ordered all hospitals to allocate at least 40% of the beds, admit patients with COVID-19, and prohibit rejection of patients with COVID-19. However, due to the large number of confirmed cases, some patients have not yet been admitted to the hospital, that is, died at home.
In order to solve the problem of admission and treatment, “field hospitals” have been built all over Vietnam. As of July 28, a total of 16 field hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have been put into use. Some of them are converted from abandoned buildings and residential buildings.
The No. 6 Field Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City is a remodeled residential building that mainly treats patients with mild illnesses. Doctor Ruan Chen Fangzhuo (transliteration) told the media: “There are too many patients and not enough doctors. We make rounds once a day to check the condition. If anyone has severe symptoms, you can call the doctor on the hotline.”
“Vietnam Net” reported that the No. 4 Field Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City began accepting patients on July 7 and is managed by the Children’s Hospital of Ho Chi Minh City. “The building has been idle for a long time. There is no electricity or water, and the room is full of dust and moss.” said Ruan Jifang Wang, the hospital manager.
Photo caption: Exterior view of No. 4 Field Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. /vietnamnet
Will Vietnam insist on infection clearing?
“Foresight” magazine described Vietnam’s current anti-epidemic situation as “internal and external troubles.”
Vietnam has a long border with Laos and Cambodia, and there is a large flow of people. Laos and Cambodia are in a period of increasing cases, putting pressure on neighboring countries, including China, to prevent epidemics.
On August 26, Luang Namtha Province in Laos, which borders China, issued an urgent supplementary notice, requiring stricter epidemic prevention measures to be implemented within the province from now on, schools at all levels were suspended, and traffic between counties and counties, villages and villages was prohibited.
On the evening of August 25, the government of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, issued a notice stating that high-risk gathering places in Phnom Penh city will continue to be closed for 14 days. It is forbidden to hold meetings or private gatherings of more than 15 people.
To make matters worse, the growth of Vietnam’s COVID-19 vaccination has been slow. According to Reuters, Vietnam has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in Southeast Asia.
According to data on the official website of the Vietnamese government, as of August 3, 6 COVID-19 pneumonia vaccines have been “conditionally used for emergency use” in the country, and 5 of them have landed in Vietnam and started vaccination. The most vaccinated is the adenovirus vaccine developed by Oxford/AstraZeneca, which is contracted and purchased by the Vietnamese government. The other four vaccines are aided by the governments of Russia, China and the United States. “Vietnam obtained 24 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from different channels.” Vietnamese media reported on August 25.
But Reuters news shows that only 1.8% of the people in Vietnam are fully vaccinated, and those who have received at least one dose are less than 9% of the total population.
According to the Vietnamese government, it has now received more than 100 million doses of vaccines and plans to complete the vaccination of 50% of the total population by the end of 2021. The World Health Organization made it clear at the end of 2020 that in order to achieve “herd immunity”, the vaccination rate must reach 70%.
Photo caption: Strict blockades are being implemented in many places in Vietnam. /Foresight
Recently, Vietnam has further tightened its blockade. Ho Chi Minh City is in a two-week lockdown. Except for employees in 31 special industries, local residents are prohibited from going out at will. The army took over every checkpoint and coordinated the distribution of daily supplies and food. The city also plans to carry out large-scale nucleic acid testing. “Vietnam may eventually have to learn to coexist with the virus. But for now, the government seems to stick to its zero-clearing strategy and reduce the spread at all costs.” Vietnamese media reported.
“Before the number of cases starts to decline, strict social distancing measures may be needed. I think the lockdown is the only measure to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system in the short term.” said Guy Sweets, director of the clinical research office at Oxford University in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Fortune” magazine stated that apart from extending the lockdown for a few more weeks and accelerating vaccination, Vietnam may not have other channels to escape the current crisis.
Sources:
1. Ultra-low diagnosis and zero deaths! How is the perfect epidemic prevention in Vietnam done? Foresight
2. From the model of epidemic prevention to the pandemic out of control, what happened to Vietnam? Foresight
3. COVID-19 pneumonia epidemic (COVID-19). vietnam+
4.Coronavirus: How ‘overreaction’ made Vietnam a virus success. BBC
5. Vietnam to pay recovered COVID-19 patients to help in hospitals. CNA
6.Vietnam had a near-perfect record of fending off COVID-19. Then came the Delta variant. Fortune
7. The key to Vietnam’s successful response to COVID-19. United Nations News
8. Five COVID-19 vaccines have been launched in Vietnam. The Central Government Portal of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
9. The data shows that the epidemic has reached its peak. The Thai reform strategy and the coexistence of the coronavirus will reopen the country before the end of the year. Lianhe Zaobao
Source: the medical community
(source:internet, reference only)
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