In a world plagued by pandemics, Vietnam seemed like a miracle. As the months passed without a single recorded coronavirus death, or even a confirmed case of local transmission, residents began leaving their face masks at home.
The noodle shops echoed with the thump of chopsticks and the sipped broth. Open schools. And attracted by the good deals, Vietnamese tourists began to take vacations again, filling the coastal city of Danang with its golden beaches and abundant seafood.
But over the weekend, Vietnam, which had gone about 100 days without a single confirmed case of local transmission, announced that the virus was lurking in the country after all, and was spreading.
First, a 57-year-old man from Danang tested positive for the virus and is now receiving life support. Then groups quickly emerged in five hospitals. By Wednesday, the virus had spread north to Hanoi, the capital, south to Ho Chi Minh City, and had affected two provinces in central Vietnam, as well as the remote central highlands.
The increase in the coronavirus in Vietnam, which so far has registered fewer than 450 cases, revealed the dangers of the virus even in places that seemed to have done almost everything right in its battle against the infection.
Japan, China, Australia and South Korea, all of which appeared to have their outbreaks reasonably under control, recorded spikes on Wednesday. In the Australian state of Victoria, authorities announced 295 new cases on Wednesday, along with nine new deaths.
Hong Kong, which has kept its case number low for months, is now competing against a wave of new infections, making about 100 people sick each day. With infections appearing in nursing homes and restaurants, Carrie Lam, the territory’s executive director, warned Tuesday that Hong Kong was “on the verge of a large-scale community outbreak.”
Although Vietnam, a nation of 95 million people, remains the world’s largest country that has not confirmed a single death from the coronavirus, the mystery surrounding infections that are emerging across the country has scared medical experts and residents alike.
“In my opinion, this outbreak is more dangerous than the last one because it is happening at the same time in many places,” said Nguyen Huy Nga, dean of public health and nursing at Quang Trung University in Binh Dinh province. “We do not know the source of the disease, especially with tens of thousands of tourists flocking to Danang.”
Vietnamese authorities have reacted to the latest wave of cases with the kind of swift and forceful response that characterized their actions in the early days of the pandemic.
Hours after clusters of cases were confirmed at Danang hospitals earlier this week, authorities said they would close the city airport. Up to 80,000 local tourists who had flooded the city during the summer vacation would be evacuated, authorities said.
Since then, several provinces have instituted quarantines for Danang arrivals, and the trawl has already reported positive cases. A waiter at a pizzeria in Hanoi tested positive for the coronavirus after visiting Danang with his family, local media reported. On Wednesday, workers in protective clothing sprayed the pizzeria with disinfectant, according to a video released by local media.
In the Central Highlands, a 21-year-old woman who had been studying in Danang and returned home by car also tested positive.
In Danang, a bustling city popular with tourists and merchants, restaurants and bars are closed. Masks are mandatory again. With swimming holidays at sea banned by local authorities, the city’s famous beaches were deserted on Wednesday, residents said.
“My family and I are not in the area where there are infected people, but I am very concerned,” said Le Thi Thuy Vi, a grocer in Danang. “I decided today that the whole family should stay home.”
When the coronavirus began to radiate from the Chinese city of Wuhan in January, Vietnam, which shares a border and government ideology with China but remains cautious with its northern neighbor, moved quickly. The country had learned from previous outbreaks of new infections, such as SARS and H1N1 flu.
At the end of January, Vietnam had closed its schools. A well-equipped bureaucracy to track the local population turned its attention to comprehensive contact tracking. Most Vietnamese, already conditioned to wearing face masks due to air pollution, saw the value of protecting themselves from viral drops in the air.
After a woman returned from fashion shows in Europe and helped spread the coronavirus at home, Vietnam stopped almost all international flights in March, and returning citizens must be quarantined at government facilities.
On Wednesday, 120 Vietnamese hydroelectric projects arrived in a letter from the government of Equatorial Guinea, where they had contracted the coronavirus. It is the largest contingent of infected returnees taking a government-sponsored repatriation flight, the Vietnam Foreign Ministry said.
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Frequent questions
Updated July 27, 2020
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Should I refinance my mortgage?
- It could be a good idea, because mortgage rates have never been lower. Refinancing applications have taken mortgage applications to some of the highest levels since 2008, so be ready to get online. But the defaults have increased, too, so if you’re thinking about buying a home, be aware that some lenders have tightened their standards.
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What will school be like in September?
- Many schools are unlikely to return to normal hours this fall, requiring the routine of online learning, impromptu child care, and delayed work days to continue. California’s two largest public school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, said July 13 that instruction will be remote only in the fall, citing concerns that increasing coronavirus infections in their areas pose too serious a risk to students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll about 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution will not be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the country’s largest New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending a few days in classrooms and other days online. There is no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what’s happening in your community.
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Is the coronavirus in the air?
- Coronavirus can remain in the air for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, growing scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded interior spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain overcast events reported in meat packing plants, churches, and restaurants. It is unclear how often the virus is transmitted through these small droplets or sprays, compared to the larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or is transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, Linsey said. Marr, Virginia Tech aerosol expert. Aerosols are released even when a symptom-free person exhales, speaks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have summarized the evidence in an open letter to the World Organization. Of the health.
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
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Does Covid-19 transmit asymptomatic?
- So far, the evidence seems to show that it does. A widely cited article published in April suggests that people are most infectious approximately two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms, and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were the result of transmission from people who still had no symptoms. Recently, a senior expert from the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people without symptoms was “very rare,” but later withdrew that claim.
Last week, Vietnam effectively banned wildlife trade, amid fears that trafficking in exotic wildlife may have precipitated the emergence of the latest outbreak. Vietnam is a consumer of illegal wildlife products and a transit point for endangered animals destined for China across its shared mountain border.
Unclear on the origin of the outbreak in Danang, which has infected at least 26 people there, medical authorities were quick to discover how cases were proliferating in an allegedly closed country.
The health ministry said the virus strain detected in Danang is different from those that circulated during the previous round of local transmission.
“This is imported,” said Professor Nga, a public health expert at Quang Trung University. “A virus cannot survive for three months in a community without causing disease.”
Professor Nga said he thought the virus probably came to Vietnam in late June or early July.
In Danang, the police deployed throughout the city, trying to locate strangers who might have brought the virus with them. On Saturday, police detained nine Chinese citizens who had illegally infiltrated Vietnam, local authorities said. Dozens more Chinese who had illegally entered the country were trapped earlier this month in central Vietnam. A Chinese man, who police said had established an illegal immigration network, was arrested Monday.
The Chinese who were captured were placed in quarantine camps or isolated in hospitals, police said.
Across Vietnam, hospitals were preparing beds to handle an increase in cases. Professor Nga noted that the ventilators and other equipment needed in the fight against the coronavirus are limited in Vietnam.
People, he said, had become complacent.
“After 100 days without outbreaks, people were no longer taking precautions,” said Professor Nga. “They did not wear masks or wash their hands with soap. People were going to crowded places. “
In Danang, Nguyen Thi Minh Hoa, director of a marketing company, said that supermarket shelves were not being emptied en masse, meaning residents were anxious but did not panic. The renewed measures of social distancing were carefully followed, he said.
“I am saddened that this coastal city has suddenly become a center of disease after 100 days of peace,” Hoa said.
Hannah Beech reported from Bangkok and Chau Doan from Hanoi, Vietnam.
