Vietnam’s COVID-19 frontman shares containment experience with Asian peers

Luong Ngoc Khue, one of Vietnam’s COVID-19 frontman has been sharing Vietnam’s experience in curbing the novel coronavirus and treated patients at an international forum attended by officials from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand.
November 20, 2020 | 15:53
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Early and aggressive efforts by the political system and entire society are considered two key factors in the success of Vietnam (Photo: VNE)
Early and aggressive efforts by the political system and entire society are considered two key factors in the success of Vietnam (Photo: VNE)

Accordingly, Khue attributed Vietnam’s success in the COVID-19 battle to the “early and aggressive efforts by the political system and entire society."

Speaking at an online forum on future health trends hosted by the National University of Singapore on Wednesday, he said Vietnam had in place strategies and plans to respond to the pandemic at all levels, kept a close watch on the number of Covid infections and regularly updated protocols.

Mobile teams were set up to provide regular support to medical centers with testing facilities across Vietnam to avoid overloading of major hospitals and ensure timely detection and treatment, Khue said.

The country also set up an online center for supporting Covid-19 treatment, and regularly monitored the implementation of hospital safety protocols against the disease, he said.

While many countries, including developed ones, have recently begun to apply new lockdowns and restrictions to deal with a second or even third wave of infection, life in Vietnam is back to normal with the country going almost 80 days without a single local case.

All the cases recorded during that period have been people coming from abroad, both Vietnamese and foreigners. All were sent straight from airports into quarantine.

In fact, the country has had only 691 locally transmitted cases so far.

Khue was quoted by VNE as saying that Vietnam would continue to focus on both pandemic containment and the economy, prioritize the development of a telemedicine network to improve the quality of medical services and use information technology in disease prevention, control and treatment.

Attention would also be paid to reducing hospital overloading and cross-infection at health facilities, he added.

Earlier this month Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who heads the coronavirus task force, told legislators that the government would continue to do what it has been doing so far to contain the pandemic rather than pinning hopes on a vaccine.

A scientist checks a mouse tested with a Vietnam's Covid-19 vaccine candidate at a lab in Hanoi, July 1, 2020. (Photo: VNE)
A scientist checks a mouse tested with a Vietnam's Covid-19 vaccine candidate at a lab in Hanoi, July 1, 2020. (Photo: VNE)

"It will not be easy at all to place orders for vaccines soon since demand is far higher than supply," he said.

The most important tasks are to continue to prevent infections and try to live safely with the disease, he said, warning that no one should let their guard down.

The forum focused on the impacts of the pandemic, the response of health systems, especially difficulties in allocating resources, including financial, major policy changes and recommendations for public - private partnerships.

Also on the agenda were the use of information technology and digital platforms in health systems and drug delivery to increase efficiency and reduce costs for health systems.

The health trends forum is held annually in various countries in Asia. Vietnam hosted it in 2016 and 2018.

Vietnam’s healthcare sector has gained considerable attainments as well as attentions from global experts given its success in controlling the deadly pandemic.

The country has recently been proudly selected as the only Asian country to partner with the UK’s healthcare initiative (The Partnership for Global Health System Sustainability and Resilience).

PHSSR was founded by the WEF, the London School of Economics and British biopharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, aims to help health systems foresee, prevent, and adapt to global health challenges by initiating broad, multi-sector efforts, according to a press release issued by the U.K. embassy in Vietnam.

Vietnam was chosen for its "unique health system experiences and expertise, including its effective Covid-19 response," the release said.

Vietnam has achieved considerable attainment in the healthcare sector, notably the success in contain the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, the country has also been developing vaccine candidates against the novel virus.

In particular, Vietnam currently has four Covid-19 vaccines under research, produced by Nanogen, Vabiotech, Polyvac and the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC).

The vaccine, produced by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, would be the first Vietnamese Covid-19 vaccine to be tested on humans if approved, said Nguyen Ngo Quang, deputy head of the Administration of Science, Technology and Training under the Ministry of Health.

The health ministry is currently urging Nanogen to ready the vaccine for human trials, Quang said. Clinical trials would occur over three stages, during which the vaccine would be tested on 20 people, then 600, and finally over 10,000.

The health ministry is currently urging Nanogen to ready the vaccine for human trials, Quang said. Clinical trials would occur over three stages, during which the vaccine would be tested on 20 people, then 600, and finally over 10,000.

To date, Vietnam with a population of more than 95 million has so far had only 1,304 cases of Covid-19 and 35 deaths.

Worldwide, the number of cases has crossed 57 million with 1.3 million deaths, with the U.S., India and Brazil being the most infected nations.

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