Fighting the virus: Vietnam’s Covid-19 success story

On April 29, 2020, in a special column on the birth centenary celebration of the Father of Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman titled "First year of Bangladesh: Bangabandhu's nation-building challenges", The Daily Star newspaper mentioned Mujib's statement on the need for foreign troops to immediately withdraw from the Vietnam.

This was a snapshot of the friendly relations that the two countries shared and one of many milestones. The two countries have supported and stood side-by-side in the most difficult times in the cause of liberating and building countries.

The Vietnamese people are now celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Great Victory on April 30, 1975, the liberation of the South, the reunification of the country and the 130th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh on May 19.

In the midst of of this, over the last four months, Covid-19 pandemic, which derived from the city of Wuhan in China, has spread like wildfire and raged in more than 200 countries and territories, with over three million cases of infection and 200,000 deaths.

The pandemic has caused a serious crisis in all socio-economic fields on a global scale, affecting the material and spiritual life of billions of people.

As a developing country which is globally-integrated, Vietnam has also been caught up in the epidemic spiral. From the beginning, when the disease was found to be at a high risk of widespread outbreak without a cure in the world, the country implemented the prevention and precaution campaigns much sooner than the World Health Organization's recommendations and warnings.

With the viewpoint of "Fighting epidemic like fighting against the enemy", the four-point guidelines of "On-site quarantine, on-site treatment, on-site facilities, on-site human resources" and the measures of "Proactive prevention - Early detection - Timely quarantine - Distinct zoning - Thorough defeat - Effective treatment" have helped Vietnam actively mobilise and arrange human and material resources to curb the spread of the virus.

Despite the limited medical facilities, the developing country with a population of nearly 100 million, has contained the deadly virus. There have been only 270 positive cases of SARS-CoV-2 virus and no deaths until April 30.

There have been no new infections in the community for the last two weeks. Up till now, Vietnam has been well controlling the disease spread. This is the initial victory of the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic -- an invisible enemy.

The guidelines, views and measures that have been implemented by the government and people of Vietnam are the lessons from the two recent resistance for national independence in general, and experiences from the Spring 1975 General Offensive and Uprising with the Victory on April 30, 1975 in particular.

Vietnam has been beginning a new phase of pandemic prevention, which is longer and more radical, together with socio-economic recovery to ensure people's adaptability in the continuous need to control the Covid-19. The pandemic is still complicated and unpredictable while the risk of outbreaks in the community is still very high.

Vietnam is implementing reasonable social distancing in line with the situation to create favourable conditions for goods circulation and resume the production, businesses and employment to stabilise people's lives.

Taking further precautions, the celebrations of the 45th anniversary of the country's reunification on April 30 and the 130th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh on May 19 is not being organised, despite the significance of these events in the lives of the Vietnamese people.

Like Vietnam, the Government and people of Bangladesh, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, are also experiencing hard times to curb and control the spread of the virus outbreak. With the tradition of fighting for independence as well as the lessons and experiences of 50 years of protecting, building and developing the country, the people of Bangladesh will continue to win. Bangladeshi people will successfully control the pandemic, overcome socio-economic consequences and continue Bangabandhu's dream of building a "Shonar Bangla".