Vietnam emerges victorious in fight against Covid19
By Ton Sinh Thanh
On 23 January, Vietnam reported its first Covid-19 infection case. Over three months later, while the global infection numbers have crossed three million and nearly 250,000 people have died, Vietnam has seen only 270 cases with zero deaths.Many people expected Vietnam to have a high infection rate because of the 1400-km long border with China. With an area of 331,700 square kms and a population of 96 million, Vietnam has a relatively dense population. Moreover, the country has limited resources to cope with the disease. Over the past two decades, with high economic growth, GDP per capita has more than doubled to US$2,700 in 2019. More than 45 million Vietnamese have escaped from poverty. However, the country’s healthcare resources are far behind those in other developed countries, including in the ASEAN region; Vietnam has only about eight doctors per 10,000 people.So how is the Covid-19 infection rate so low in Vietnam?