A 26-year-old female passenger infected with SARS-CoV-2, having symptoms that lasted approximately 1 day before departure, likely transmitted first to twelve other passengers in the same business class cabin, two other passengers and a crew member in economic cabin, then three household contacts after arriving in Hanoi. For instance, in early March, a Boeing 787–9 carrying 217 passengers and crew members flew for over 10 hours from London to Hanoi. Early in the epidemic, transmission occurred following importation of cases through international commercial air travel. There have been three waves of the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam, with increasing rates of transmission over time ( figure 1). 10 As of 30 September, there were 1095 cases that resulted in 35 deaths all among people with underlying health conditions.
Vietnam’s first COVID-19 case was detected on 23 January 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow, these lessons are essential to inform better preparedness, prevention and response in Vietnam and other settings. An additional aim was to describe responses of three case study outbreaks in crowded public places (a bar and a referral hospital), a village of Son Loi in northern Vietnam and the Da Nang region in central Vietnam. The main aims of this study were to provide a summary of the status of the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam, highlight key response successes, examine factors that prompted implementation of certain public health actions and describe the impact of these actions. 9 Its early successes provide lessons that may be useful, particularly for low-income and middle-income countries to improve their COVID-19 response. Vietnam has been recognised as a country with extensively documented successes of SARS-CoV-2 control. 7 Nevertheless, strategies for preventing and controlling viral transmission still relies heavily on the practices of isolating cases, mandating quarantine for exposed persons, promoting physical distancing, improving handwashing measures and increasing use of masks in the community. 1 2 There have been significant successes to date in the development process of effective COVID-19 vaccines, 3–5 drugs to treat symptoms 6 and availability of neutralising antibodies. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, is presenting unprecedented challenges. Swift governmental action, strict border control measures, effective communication of health promotion measures, widespread community engagement, expanded testing capacity and effective social measures to slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2, are highly important in these locations. Many low-income and middle-income countries have experienced their second or third wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, and they can learn from Vietnam’s response across the three epidemic waves. Controlling outbreaks in settings, such as crowded public places (bars and hospitals), within certain villages and over cities, required early detection, aggressive trace-test-quarantine efforts, a geographically extensive lockdown area and an adoption of several non-pharmaceutical interventions. This study also highlights the importance of early technical preparedness, strong political commitment, multisectoral and multilevel efforts, increased resourcing and coordination towards an effective COVID-19 response. Evidence of potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from a commercial passenger flight inbound to Vietnam was reported. As of 30 September, there had been three waves of the COVID-19 epidemic totalling 1095 cases, and resulting in 35 deaths all among people with underlying health conditions. The first COVID-19 case was detected on 23 January. Findings from this study suggest that as early as 20 January 2020, Vietnam held a national risk assessment, established a national COVID-19 Response Plan and Technical Treatment and Care Guidelines, and prepared public health laboratories to accurately diagnose cases and hospitals to effectively treat patients.
In addition, information for three case studies is reported, with crucial learnings to inform future response. We describe the status of the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam, major response successes, factors that prompted implementation of certain public health actions, and the impact of these actions.
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