Japanese newspaper highlights Vietnam’s quarantine measure in COVID-19 prevention

The article said amid the spread of the pandemic around the world, Vietnam has contained the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Though it shares a 1,400km border with China, where the epidemic broke out, Vietnam’s infection rate was very low with 268 patients and no deaths as of April 21st morning.

"Quarantine of individuals who have had 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.

The article said that Vietnam began its social distancing in early April. Accordingly, all citizens were not allowed to go out unless essential, and gatherings of more than two persons in public were banned. 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 15th, then extended to April 22nd in many localities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city.

In early March when the numbers of Vietnamese returning home 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 building blocks or villages were locked down when infected persons were discovered, it added./.