The pandemic has increased rapidly in a short period of time, causing overload to the healthcare system and increasing the number of deaths, especially in several southern provinces and cities. Currently, all 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam have recorded COVID-19 cases.
The numbers
The fourth outbreak with the Delta variant (from April 27) including fast, strong, and long-lasting spread has pushed up the number of infections quickly in a short time, much higher than the forecast. Vietnam recorded less than 1,500 cases of the COVID-19 infection in 2020, but the number of infected people has exceeded 1.69 million in the final days of 2021, including 31,877 deaths.
The numbers, up until now haven’t been an issue, as Vietnam had a successful anti-pandemic year in 2020, which was highly appreciated by the international community. The number of infected people in Vietnam ranks 31st out of 224 countries and territories (average 17,182 infections per million people). In the past seven days, the country has seen an average of 15,202 new infections and 232 deaths related to COVID-19 each day.
The fast and complicated epidemic developments have caused severe consequences, causing 23 localities to implement social distancing and other drastic pandemic prevention and control measures to protect the health and life of the people.
In this fourth wave of the pandemic, many unprecedented professional measures have been applied to respond to the new developments of the disease, including the supervision, tracing, detection, and treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Localities nationwide have gradually enhanced their testing capacity and proactively screened and took testing samples in high-risk areas. Isolation measures have been adjusted and updated according to pandemic developments and the isolation capacity of each locality.
Regarding treatment, many measures are combined synchronously, contributing to reducing mortality and avoiding the health crisis as happened in some other countries around the world. In addition to local field hospitals organised by localities, the Ministry of Health has established intensive care centres managed by central hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Long An, and Vinh Long in addition to providing treatment guidelines according to three-tiered models and mobilising the participation of the private health sector.
When the number of COVID-19 cases soared sharply in the community, mobile medical stations were established in communes and wards to help people get access to healthcare early, contributing to reducing severe illness and mortality.
It was also an unprecedented event when about 25,000 medical workers and 39 medical units were mobilised from northern provinces to support southern provinces affected by the pandemic. In recent days, when the number of cases and hospitalizations has increased again, the Ministry of Health mobilised 14 leading hospitals to send medical workers to southern provinces in a bid to improve treatment efficiency and reduce mortality.
Vietnam is considered as one of the few countries with a very rapid increase in the coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine for the people. The vaccine strategy has been effectively implemented through vaccine diplomacy, purchasing and importing of vaccines as well as organising vaccination campaigns on a national scale.
Although the vaccination campaign commenced later than other countries, the campaign has been conducted very quickly and effectively. By the end of December, Vietnam has administered more than 146 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and became one of the 63 countries and territories that have covered two doses of vaccine for 70% of the population. Vietnam ranks 52nd out of 63 countries and territories that have achieved this goal.
Vietnam also ranks eighth in the world in terms of the number of doses of vaccines that have been administered. Notably, at the beginning of the second quarter of 2021, many international organisations forecast that Vietnam would not be able to achieve the goal of vaccine coverage until April 2022, however, Vietnam has finished four months earlier than the forecast.
Three lessons
Over the past year, the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic has always been considered a top priority in the direction and management of the Government and localities. Appropriate pandemic prevention and control measures have been adjusted and perfected under the motto of “5K + vaccine + treatment + technology + the awareness of people”.
When the pandemic has been spreading in urban areas, key economic regions, and industrial zones, local people are considered as the subject participating in pandemic prevention and control while health care and social security services are brought to the grassroots level.
Thanks to the drastic action of the whole political system, the efforts, high determination and close coordination of administration at all levels, especially front-line and grassroots forces, pandemic prevention and control work has become more effective.
According to Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, we have had some initial results and lessons from the pandemic prevention and control in the past year. Firstly, the drastic direction of the Party and State and the participation of the entire political system, armed forces and people have paid off.
Secondly, many valuable experiences and unprecedented professional solutions to pandemic prevention and control have been applied, such as the isolation and treatment of F0 at home, rapid testing, treatment stratification, and the establishment of mobile medical stations and intensive care centres. Strategies for pandemic prevention and control are always adjusted flexibly in accordance with each situation and evolution of the pandemic.
Thirdly, a large number of medical, military, police and other forces have been mobilised to Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces. During the pandemic, we have brought into play the strength of the great national unity to overcome difficulties together.
On December 28, the Ministry of Health announced the first case of infection with the Omicron variant in Vietnam. The case of the Omicron variant was a passenger on a flight from the UK to Vietnam on the evening of December 19 who was quarantined on arrival. It is hoped that the above lessons will continue to be promoted to prevent the pandemic, especially the new Omicron variant.
The problem of flexible adaptation
Thanks to the joint efforts, the pandemic was basically controlled nationwide and the whole country switched to implementing flexible adaptation and effective control of the pandemic according to the Government’s Resolution 128/NQ-CP.
After more than two months of implementing the Resolution, it proves to be a completely reasonable policy as the economy has gradually recovered with increases in exports and investment attraction as well as strengthened social security.
The Resolution has created a legal framework to help localities issue and implement administrative and medical measures appropriate to the pandemic levels throughout the localities. Localities have also gradually resumed travel and trade activities in order to ensure people's living standards and control the pandemic in the new situation.
But when transitioning to a state of flexible adaptation and effective control of the pandemic, it is impossible to prevent COVID-19 infections. Therefore, we must have solutions to control and manage risks, especially the risk of serious illness and death in high-risk groups, in addition to increasing the coverage of vaccinations. Improving the quality of treatment to reduce mortality is a goal not only in Vietnam but also around the world.
The storm of the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the limitations and weaknesses of many fields. With regards to the health sector, they are the treatment capacity of lower levels, primary health care and preventive medicine. That requires the Government and the Ministry of Health to focus on consolidating and restructuring the health system, especially grassroots health care and preventive medicine as well as increasing investment in the health sector and improving the quality of human resources, among others.
Although the pandemic is basically under control nationwide, the number of cases and deaths continues to increase in many localities. The pandemic has spread in the community with the risk of new outbreaks, while the winter-spring weather is favourable for the development of the virus, in addition to the increase in travelling and trading during the New Year and the Lunar New Year.
That requires an early and overall strategy for pandemic prevention and control to be deployed on a national scale. Each locality needs to be more drastic in reducing the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths. And each citizen, even though having received two or three doses of vaccines, still needs to strictly follow the regulations on pandemic prevention and control, especially the 5K message.
