Hanoi (VNA)♈ - The international community has attributed Vietnam’s remarkable achievements in taking on COVID-19 to the close cooperation between the country’s Government and its people. 

Scott Hammel is aninternational student advisor at California State University, Fullerton. He hasa personal connection with Vietnam, as he lived and worked in the country from2011 to 2012 and has a beautiful half-Vietnamese daughter. He kept a close eyeon the COVID-19 situation in the country throughout the crisis. Scott and hisdaughter Maia had a two-month holiday in Vietnam just recently in summer 2019.Shortly after returning home he heard for the first time about a strange respiratory diseasebreaking out in China and spreading to neighbouring countries, includingVietnam. He felt a huge sense of relief that he had left already, but has now changedhis mind after seeing how the outbreak has been handled. “When the virusstarted to spread outside of China in January my first thought was ‘I’m glad wereturned to the US.’ Now I’m wishing we had stayed in Vietnam,” Scott told theVietnam News Agency. Vietnam’sapproach to tackling the coronavirus epidemic has been in large part determinedby its system of government and its citizens’ willingness to make sacrificesfor the overall well-being of society. Indeed, mostVietnamese people are willing to cooperate with the Government in dealing withthe pandemic, due to the Government’s consistent approach of putting people’swell-being before economic benefits. The approach wasaffirmed in a report from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc presented to thenational cadres conference in Hanoi on April 23 to discuss the COVID-19 fightand identify measures for socioeconomic stabilisation and development. Thereport restated Vietnam’s consistent view that “fighting the pandemic is likefighting a war”. In response to the appeal from the Party and the PM, peopleand soldiers at home and abroad came together to fight COVID-19, according tothe report. Vietnam’s approach could be summarised as “prioritisingprevention”, “locking out external risks, zoning epidemic-hit areas andstopping it from spreading, using effective treatment,” and, most importantly,“accepting short-term economic losses to protect people’s health.” “Vietnam is aleading example for countries to study and follow,” said Japanese AmericanKrista Aoki. “As an outsider, (I saw that) it’s clear Vietnam chooses a people-firstapproach - take care of the people first, worry about the economy later.” Vietnam had recordedzero fatalities as of May 18, making it stand apart from many countries around theworld, where the number of infections is in the thousands or even tens ofthousands, and fatalities are high.  PraisingVietnam’s achievements in its fight against the virus, Amy Searight, SeniorAdvisor and Director of the Southeast Asia Programme at the Center for Strategicand International Studies (CSIS), said: “Vietnam launched a rapid andaggressive response to the coronavirus outbreak that so far has been highlysuccessful, with zero reported deaths.” She attributedthe success to the country’s social mobilization, saying “the ability of theCommunist Party of Vietnam to mobilize society has been on full display throughclear public messaging, the ability to isolate individuals with symptoms andtrack their second- and third-hand contacts, the quarantining of incomingtravellers, and theenlistment of medical students, retired doctors, and nurses.” Given the complicateddevelopment of COVID-19 around the world, with 4.8 million affected and deaths totalling316,000, Vietnam, with 320 cases of infection, including 180 imported cases, hasbeen one of only a few highlights in the global fight against the deadlycoronavirus. The achievements and joint efforts of both the Government and the peopleof Vietnam have been praised by international media and organisations./.