COVID-19: Vietnam Relaxes Restrictions On Movement

The Vietnamese Government has relaxed its order on social distancing in the country, as medical experts cite mass testing and quarantines and a wide contact tracing exercise that led to the success of Vietnam's virus spread suppression.

Vietnam shares a very porous border with China and yet has only recorded 268 cases and no deaths, according to a tally by officials in the country.

Although, the number of people who tested positive for the virus are low, experts say that caution should be taken before believing the figures put out by the authoritarian government, as its ministry of health is the only source for the figures.

Vietnam's swift response to the coronavirus outbreak also contributed to its success, as it was among the first countries to restrict flight from mainland China in February when the country barely had up to 10 cases, and villages close to the capital of the country were put under quarantine.

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A resident of Hanoi, Nguyen Trinh Thang, while speaking with AFP said, “We go to each and every alley, knocking on each and every door," speakin gon how he and his team in his community zeroed in on any cases that were suspected to be positive.

He added, “We follow the guidance from our government that ‘fighting the pandemic is like fighting our enemy’."

The government's ability to convince the citizens of the country to cooperate has been one of the reasons that the containment of the spread of the virus has successful, says the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific regional director, Takeshi Kasai.

He said, “They’re really doing their part.

“I think that’s the reason why they were able to continue to keep the number (of infections) small.”