Former German Vice Chancellor hails Vietnamese achievements in COVID-19 fight

The Former German Vice Chancellor was an invited guest alongside Helge Braun, head of the Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Tasks, with Rösler, who also served as German federal health minister, invited to speak virtually about Vietnam’s fight against COVID-19 after his visit late last month.

In comparison to the rest of the world, the country has done very well in terms of epidemic prevention and control, Rösler noted, particularly when the number of infected people and the death toll remains very low despite a population of approximately 97 million.

During the early stages of the pandemic, the nation enforced a drastic response, including the immediate closure of borders, followed by an immediate lockdown as soon as only a few cases of infection were detected locally.

Pandemic containment measures have allowed the country to competently control the first outbreak of the disease. Following anti-pandemic efforts being loosened in the summer, new infections were once again detected, with the nation swiftly implementing control steps as soon as possible, he added.

According to Rösler, Vietnamese measures have proved effective, with domestic travel returning with ease, although those entering the nation, with very few exceptions, must undergo isolation measures.

During his recent visit to the country with a number of representatives from major businesses from Germany, Switzerland, and Israel, former Vice Chancellor Rösler also congratulated the nation on successfully controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, he added that it can be considering as an exemplary model which many countries globally can learn from.

Elsewhere in the German press, the newspaper Zeit (Era) interviewed Jeremy Farrar on December 7, one of the leading experts in the COVID-19 fight in the Central European nation, who also expressed his great appreciation for Vietnamese results against the pandemic.

According to Farrar, the country launched a decisive response in the early stages of the outbreak, with drastic measures breaking the chain of infection. He therefore emphasised that it is only possible to break the chain of infection by undergoing a thorough isolation period and conducting extensive testing to detect both symptomatic cases and also asymptomatic people.

He added, that SARS-CoV-2 is not only a pathogen but also a typical infectious virus, so it takes great efforts at all levels to effectively contain the disease.

Completely preventing the spread of the virus and avoiding new infections represents the only strategy for long-term control of the pandemic, just like what Vietnam and other Asian nations have done, Farrar added.