Japan paper: quarantine is key strategy in Vietnam
Tokyo (VNA) – Japan’s Asahi newspaper on April 21
ran a story commending Vietnam’s drastic quarantine measures in the fight
against COVID-19.
The article said amid the spread of the pandemic across
the world, Vietnam has contained the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Though it shares a 1,400km borderline with China where the epidemic broke out, its infection rate was very low with 268 patients and no death as of April
21 morning.
"Quarantine
of individuals who have contact with a case or are coming from a high risk area
is definitely a key strategy, especially since people infected seem to be
infectious at the very start of symptoms", it said.
According to
the article, Vietnam began its social distancing in early April. Accordingly,
all citizens were not allowed to go out in unnecessary cases and banned gatherings of more than two persons in public places. All shops and service
facilities were shut down, except essential services such as supermarkets and hospitals.
The order
was originally scheduled to last till April 15, then extended to April 22 in many
localities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
In early
March when arrivals in Vietnam from Europe surged, the Vietnamese Government ordered
quarantine of all those coming in and those who had contact with patients at
military-run facilities and universities. Even a building block or a village was locked down when infected persons were discovered, it added./.