When A Country Lets It's Guard Down - The Virus Returns

[steveluv]

This is what happens if a country who is doing well in managing the Chinese Virus starts to relax and let it's guard down. And isn't it too late for the Prime Minister to "calls for immediate prosecution of undocumented immigrants". We need to remain vigilant at all cost. 

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Vietnam tightens border control as new coronavirus cases emerge
Prime minister calls for immediate prosecution of undocumented immigrants

Vietnamese border guards wear masks at the Huu Nghi crossing with China on Feb. 20.   © Reuters
TOMOYA ONISHI, Nikkei staff writerJuly 27, 2020 15:49 JST

HANOI -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked local authorities to impose tighter controls on illegal immigrants from neighboring countries as the Southeast Asian nation, which has won praise for effectively containing the coronavirus, confirmed its first new locally transmitted cases in three months in the city of Danang.

Phuc on Monday called for authorities in the central Vietnamese city to take strong measures to prevent the spread of any more cases.

"We must have a decisive attitude, otherwise we [Vietnam] will fail in this anti-epidemic campaign," Phuc said in an online meeting on COVID-19 prevention and control with authorities in Danang. The prime minister asked authorities there to implement social distancing throughout the city starting from the afternoon.

"Nonessential services must be stopped," Phuc said. "We have not used the 'lockdown' word for Danang yet, but there must be a level of social distancing." He also called for stronger actions in that regard than the city itself announced Sunday.

Phuc's concern came after Nguyen Thanh Long, the acting health minister, in a meeting with the government on Saturday said a 57-year-old man from Danang who tested positive for COVID-19 had no record of traveling outside the country. Local media reports quoted the official describing that case and three other confirmed infections linked to the city as being "imported to the city of Danang."

But at a government meeting Monday, Long said there is not enough evidence to confirm that the four new cases have the same source of infection, suggesting the possibility of multiple avenues and even that the outbreak may have started in the community. But he stressed that the virus in the newly confirmed patients is a different strain compared with ones already existing in Vietnam, strongly suggesting it came from outside the country.

Following the announcement, critics in both mainstream and social media said Chinese immigrants illegally entering Vietnam by land and skipping necessary prevention measures as well as Vietnamese returning from China should be taken into account as the possible source of the local transmission of the virus.

Vietnam shares land borders with countries including China, Laos and Cambodia. The one with China, where the pandemic originated, stretches more than 1,200 km. Thanks to strict quarantine and aggressive social distancing measures, the Southeast Asian country has managed to keep its virus total to only 420 cases with zero deaths as of Sunday. But it has found a hole in its defenses in the form of illegal immigrants from its neighbors. The new case in Danang ended a run of 99 days with no locally transmitted infections.

Hanoi currently allows international charter flights to bring Vietnamese home from overseas as well as for foreigners entering the country, but all arrivals are required to follow stringent measures to avoid the spread of the virus. So far, new imported cases made public have all been detected at airports. Vietnam requires all people entering the country to stay in mandatory quarantine for 14 days, during which they will be tested for the virus several times. Quarantining and testing are free for everyone.

After medical officials confirmed the new case in Danang, Phuc said at a cabinet meeting in Hanoi on Saturday that authorities must as a deterrent swiftly punish anyone who helps bring immigrants into Vietnam illegally. He also called for immediate prosecutions and fast trials for all cases related to the activities of bringing foreigners to Vietnam illegally and "widely publicize the information to the people."

Phuc also asked his cabinet to stay on high alert. "The Ministry of Public Security and the People's Committees of all provinces and cities have to identify all illegal immigrants to put them under medical surveillance and issue fines to these undocumented immigrants in accordance with current regulations," he said.

The government on Saturday also asked the ministries of national defense and public security to continue with strict border controls, especially at crossings and border gates, with illegal entrants to face stiff penalties.

On Sunday, the Health Ministry reported three more locally transmitted infections, bringing new cases inside the country to four over the weekend. Two of the people are in serious condition.

Danang again imposed social distancing measures from noon on Sunday, banning gatherings of more than 30 people. Residents and visitors are asked to stay 1 meter apart and wear masks in public spaces. The city has canceled all events that draw crowds.

Meanwhile, the capital, Hanoi, requested that people who recently returned from Danang self-isolate at home and report any fevers. Shops selling medicine are required to report those who purchase medicine to relieve fevers.

Authorities are also tracking down everyone who came in contact with the four new patients, three of whom are in the city while one who visited it has returned to Quang Ngai Province, south of Danang. The number who had direct contact rose to more than 200, while those with indirect contact totaled more than 1,000.

Local authorities have been ramping up efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants over the past few months.

On July 5, border guards in Quang Ninh detained five Chinese nationals accused of illegally entering Vietnam to gamble, according to provincial authorities.

On July 19, law enforcement in the town of Dien Ban in Quang Nam Province arrested 21 Chinese who are believed to have entered Vietnam along small paths along the border to seek jobs.

On July 16, up to 24 Chinese nationals were found entering Danang illegally. That forced the city's police to examine 14 local households accommodating foreigners, as well as 374 guesthouses, hotels, home stay locations, rental houses, resorts and apartments in a mass search for Chinese nationals in the city. The mission found two dozen Chinese were staying illegally in the city on Saturday.

Vietnam cannot tolerate even a small number of COVID-19 cases because its health system is fragile and may struggle to handle an explosion of infections, according to a political analyst who declined to be named.

"Hanoi remains on high alert because it needs to avoid the spread of the coronavirus until next January," he said, referring to scheduled voting for key Communist Party, National Assembly and government posts. "Safety, stability and unity before the election are the top priorities of Vietnamese leaders at this time."

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Vietnam deploys elite team to Danang to curb new wave of COVID-19

Hanoi tightens border control as illegal Chinese migrants reportedly surge

People wait for COVID-19 tests in Hanoi on July 30.    © AP
TOMOYA ONISHI, Nikkei staff writerAugust 5, 2020 15:01 JST

HANOI -- Vietnam's government has dispatched a team of what officials called the country's "most experienced" medical workers to Danang, in an effort to stem a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

The outbreak in the coastal city, which is one of the country's top tourist destinations, is so serious that Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Truong Son has been sent there to lead the containment efforts.

The move came as the country tightened border controls in response to an influx of undocumented Chinese workers. But the government, which had been praised for keeping infections low at the beginning of the pandemic, has stopped short of linking illegal Chinese immigrants to the resurgent coronavirus.

Health authorities said infections linked to Danang reached 224 as of Wednesday. Vietnam's total number of cases reached 672 on the same day. The country, which had managed to record zero deaths through July 30, reported eight deaths so far.

The team of more than 60 medical experts sent to Danang includes staff from Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, which made international headlines for curing a British pilot who was in critical condition with COVID-19.

To quell the new wave of possible infections, Hanoi has reintroduced lockdowns in certain districts across the country. More than 133,000 people are under quarantined nationwide as of Tuesday, including 1,258 in hospital, more than 20,000 in quarantine facilities and the rest in self-isolation.

Meanwhile, Hanoi has been trying to stem of the flow of illegal immigrants from China, where the coronavirus originated and which shares a more-than-1,200-km border with Vietnam. Officials said Monday 504 undocumented Chinese immigrants had been detained since January. Some of the Chinese were seeking jobs after being driven out of their country by natural disasters and the coronavirus pandemic, Maj. Gen. To An Xo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, told a news conference Monday.

Xo said his ministry urged border patrol units and local authorities to follow Hanoi's guidelines on coronavirus prevention and control, including immigration checks at border crossings and international airports.

Illegal entries were mostly made by Chinese nationals and Vietnamese working in neighboring countries, Xo said. Vietnam also shares borders with Laos and Cambodia.

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday updated its COVID-19 diagnostic and treatment guide. Nguyen Van Kinh, who chairs the Vietnamese Society of Infectious Diseases, said the new strain of virus found in patients in Danang belonged to a mutation known as D614G, which has been linked to infections in Africa and Bangladesh.

"The salient feature of SARS-CoV-2 virus is its large size, contagiousness and genetic modification with symptoms caused by inflammation in the upper respiratory tract," he said, referring to the novel coronavirus's official name.

On Sunday, Nguyen Thanh Long, the acting health minister, said a mutation "has increased susceptibility, leading to high rates of infection."

"The infection rate is about five and six people, compared to the older strains with the rate of 1.8 to 2.2 people," he said. The rate equates to how many people contract the virus in a period of time after having close contact with an infected individual.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday stressed the importance of achieving "dual goals" -- containing the pandemic while fostering economic growth -- at a cabinet meeting. Accelerating disbursement of public investment was identified as the best solution to deliver that goal.

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On the ground in Vietnam's new COVID epicenter of Danang

Nation's early success slips away as coastal city becomes new hot spot

My Khe beach promenade in the Vietnamese resort city of Danang is deserted. (Photo by Hugh Bohane)
HUGH BOHANE, Contributing writerAugust 13, 2020 11:13 JST

DANANG, Vietnam -- Just weeks ago, things were looking up for residents of the Vietnamese coastal city of Danang. Their country was winning rave reviews globally for effectively handling the coronavirus pandemic, keeping infections low and being one of the few places hit to have avoided any deaths.

Optimism was in the air. The local economy was gazing ahead to the eventual return of the foreign tourists who once flocked to its scenic beaches fronting the South China Sea. And more broadly, Vietnam itself was planning to pick up the pieces from the economic effects of the virus, with hopes pinned on an increased investment from companies seeking a safe haven from the U.S.-China trade conflict.

But now, however, the atmosphere is fraught with fear and uncertainty as a surge in infections believed to have originated in the city and spreading elsewhere in the country has brought a series of emergency measures, with neighborhoods barricaded and residents are being mandatorily tested.

"The situation is pretty bad here, people are dying," David Tran, a local real estate and visa agent based in Danang told the Nikkei Asian Review. "More and more cases every day," Tran said, stressing that the number of infections in a single week equaled the total the previous seven months.

The fresh outbreak has left the country reeling and begs the question of how it went from containment success story to suddenly having to revert to extreme measures to again bring it under control. But despite the shock, the government and citizens are clearly willing to cooperate and take on the virus a second time.

As of Tuesday, Vietnam had recorded a total of 847 coronavirus cases nationwide, still far fewer than many countries. But there have now been 15 fatalities nationwide. The country had gone 99 days without a domestic infection until one was detected in Danang on July 25.

The virus, which rapidly spread around the world early this year from the Chinese city of Wuhan, came just as the outlook for Vietnam was looking up: The country was being increasingly seen as one of the main beneficiaries from the U.S.-China trade conflict, with international companies having already started to make new investments.

A soldier stands guard on My Khe beach in Danang. (Photo by Hugh Bohane)

Since the virus reemerged in Danang, cases have been detected in other cities around the country, including the capital Hanoi and major southern metropolis and commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City. A 15-day period of social distancing began on July 28 in Danang with only basic services such as pharmacies, hospitals, ATMs and supermarkets allowed to operate. The tourist economy, which was still reeling from the lack of foreign visitors, is again stifled, with streets and beaches mostly empty.

Many of the new cases have been linked to three hospitals in Danang, according to the Health Ministry. The ministry issued a statement saying that up to 80,000 people who came to the city since July 1 have had to evacuate to other locations in the country.

It remains unclear how the outbreak began. Nguyen Thanh Long, Vietnam's top health official, said on July 27 that results of exams on infected patients identified a new strain of the virus, though the assertion has yet to be independently confirmed.

The Southeast Asian country's borders have been closed since March except for a few repatriation flights mostly bringing Vietnamese home from abroad. Those arrivals are seen as one possible explanation for the outbreak, while another could be related to 40 Chinese nationals illegally smuggled into Vietnam in April. Two Vietnamese citizens were detained on July 27 for allegedly organizing their entry, according to police officials.

In a move reminiscent of what happened in the Chinese city of Wuhan, albeit on a smaller scale, local authorities are testing the entire population of Danang -- a city of approximately 1.1 million people -- for possible infection. Local medical workers had conducted 8,247 tests before July 25 and carried out high-speed exams, including 5,000 in one day, in the city's Son Tra District.

A guard patrols a barricaded street in An Thuong, Danang. (Photo by Hugh Bohane)

In a sign of the urgency that has overtaken Danang, the Tien Son Sports Center in the city center is being converted into a field hospital on track to open Wednesday, with capacity to hold up to 2,000 patients. About 100 people are working to meet the deadline, a security guard told the Nikkei Asian Review.

Vietnamese residents in and around one of the city's infection hot zones told Nikkei that they have had to take mandatory blood tests and stay inside their residences. The government is focusing on antibody blood tests as they can determine if a person had the virus before or is currently positive, and they are faster than the PCR swab tests.

In the Ngu Hanh Son neighborhood, close to the city's popular My Khe beach, one street went into full lockdown on July 30 after at least one case was detected there. The street, An Thuong 15, was cordoned off and guards and medics in full hazmat suits combed the area. A few other streets around the city have also been isolated with barricades so officials can root out possible cases.

The tension is beginning to wear on residents, but some are finding resilience in the national character of the country, which during the 20th century fought to overcome foreign occupation by colonial ruler France, saw off a massive U.S. military intervention and united the divided nation and resisted a brief but bloody Chinese invasion. Vietnam also battled the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak.

"I really hope this is the last time we get locked down," said Lani Hoang, 25, who had to give up being a tour guide in Danang when arrivals dried up and who now teaches the Vietnamese language. But Hoang stressed that the country has a can-do attitude no matter what difficulties it faces.

"Vietnamese people are famous for sticking together and showing solidarity with each other," she said, stressing her own patriotism. "We just need to stay strong and stay healthy and all will be well."

Tran and Hoang both agree that the Vietnamese government is trying its best to contain the virus and that the strict lockdown measures are a vital step in the right direction.

"Although there wasn't a case on my street, everyone seems pretty serious about this and people are just staying at home," Tran said.

[Throttle2]

Steady lah, Vietnam.

I believe that the resilience, perseverance and solidarity of the Vietnamese people will carry them through.