Int’l press praises positive economic prospects after pandemic

Ha Noi and HCMC, Viet Nam’s two biggest cities, enforced strict social distancing for three weeks in April, but most companies there also kept working. The authorities undertook one of the world’s most rigorous contact-tracing regimes, locating not just primary but secondary contacts of infected people and forcing them into either state or home quarantine. 

Apple, Nintendo and Google are among the manufacturers that have moved some of their production to Viet Nam — decisions made before the pandemic, although its fallout may now prompt others to follow suit. 

The Vietnamese government, as part of its stimulus response, has fast-tracked plans for billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure projects including a north-south highway, two metro lines and a new Ho Chi Minh City airport. The plan will “unlock the potential of Viet Nam” and further boost growth by easing some of the logistics bottlenecks slowing business. Viet Nam’s parliament this week ratified a long-awaited free trade agreement with the EU. 

Viet Nam is named the best COVID-19 response country in the world with 95% of net approval rating for government handling of the pandemic, according to survey data of the UK’s data analysis and market research firm YouGov.

So far, Viet Nam recorded 332 positive cases of which 317 patients have recovered and zero deaths were confirmed./. 

By Kim Loan