Timeline of COVID -19 and Vietnam policy actions at a glance

Vietnam’s policy actions regarding COVID -19 are recapped in a timeline together with the outbreak’s movement and in context with other Asian countries from the start of 2020 to early of August 2020. Quick and decisive actions including touch control on travelling, intensive quarantine for overseas arrivals and suspected cases, massive testing and aggressive contract tracing, sealing off virus hot-spots and timely communication from very early on are considered to have contributed to Vietnam’s performance given its vulnerable position to China, a population of 100 million people and a comparatively under-developed healthcare system. Some of the measures are controversial and limit privacy rights. However, some observers have also noted that the actions of the Vietnamese government has helped the party to gain citizen trust.