WHO Commends Vietnam's Response To COVID-19, Urges Other Countries To Benchmark Methods

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2020) Vietnam has developed a comprehensive system of tools for tackling infectious diseases long before the coronavirus, which will likely help it take COVID-19 under control following an outbreak in the Da Nang resort city, WHO officials said at a virtual briefing on Monday.

Up until a cluster of infections was found in Da Nang last week, Vietnam had no recorded deaths from COVID-19 and almost three months of no domestic transmission.

"As a country that has experienced very low caseloads and very low mortality, they are not taking any chances with this [cluster] and doing their best to prevent this from turning into a major incident," Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme Michael Ryan said, going on to commend the "rapid actions" taken by the Vietnamese authorities in response to the outbreak, which the WHO official said was "obviously a bit of a shock to the system.

"

Ryan specifically emphasized such response measures as shutting down the religious, sporting and cultural events, making masks compulsory in public places, limiting public assembly to 30 people, shutting down borders "strategically" and reducing the number of domestic flights.

"They are acting fast, comprehensively and they have the system in place that can bring these outbreaks under control. This is what we need to see from all countries," Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO COVID-19 technical lead, added.

Van Kerhove said Vietnam had "a lot of experience in dealing with infectious disease outbreaks" and while many countries would likely face a resurgence of the virus, Vietnam is an example to follow in terms of identifying even the smallest clusters and taking them under control.

Vietnam has so far reported 642 COVID-19 cases, including six deaths and 374 recoveries, making it one of the world's least affected nations.