Major French dailies have spoken highly of Viet Nam’s efforts in the fight against Covid-19, noting that the country is “an exception”.

Banners on Covid-19 prevention measure in Viet Nam (Photo: VNA)

The Ouest-France daily noted that Viet Nam, with a population of 96 million and 1,000 km of shared border with China, reported 270 Covid-19 infections as of April 24, with no deaths.

Viet Nam was quick to take action, it said. Schools did not reopen after the Lunar New Year holiday in late January. The country’s border with China was closed from February 1, one week after the discovery of the first Covid-19 cases.

For each reported case, those who have been in direct or indirect contact with the patient will go into quarantine.

Advanced technology also has a role to play as citizens are encouraged to make medical declarations on a health reporting app, it wrote.

Wearing a mask has been made compulsory since the beginning of April and social distancing rules were put in place despite the low number of cases. 

Another daily Le Monde published an article titled “Viet Nam's successful ‘spring offensive’ against Covid-19”, saying it is the result of an effective policy for identifying and monitoring infected and at-risk people and groups.

In addition, people closely followed social distancing rules, it noted.

Refuting doubts on Covid-19 statistics in Viet Nam, the daily quoted a Vietnamese-French tested positive for coronavirus and received treatment in Ho Chi Minh City as saying that since social networks are used widely in Viet Nam, it is difficult for the Government to hide such a large-scale epidemic.

The Vietnamese Government recently offered 550,000 face masks for the five European nations of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, along with 800,000 others for the two neighbours of Laos and Cambodia.

Viet Nam also handed over 450,000 Dupont protective suits to the US, it wrote.

Meanwhile, Les Echos noted that Viet Nam does not apply costly large-scale screening tests, but carries out rapid identification and mandatory quarantine of infected people, as well as track of their contacts.

A mobile application, NCOVI, was launched on March 10 to encourage everyone to report their health condition and to be followed in the event of contact with an infected person, it added.

Source: VNA