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It was during Tet holiday (lunar new year), the last two weeks of January, while everyone was either with family, relaxing or on holiday, when the COVID-19 outbreak was announced. On the Sunday before schools were supposed to reopen, with only a few cases here in Vietnam, we were told that schools would remain closed to prevent the spread of the virus.
My sister Mary works in an international school and started online teaching her students, but as I worked in a public school with 40-50 students per class, this wasn’t an option. Luckily, I got an online job teaching children in China. It’s only now, over three months later, that schools are beginning to slowly reopen.
All non-essential businesses were ordered to close
Vietnam seems to be one of the most successful countries at handling this virus; even though they share a border with China, they’ve had less than 300 diagnoses and zero deaths. When the number of cases rose in March, Vietnam took very strict measures to control the outbreak. All non-essential businesses were ordered to close, social gatherings of more than two people were banned and anyone not wearing a mask in public was fined.
They also implemented aggressive but effective testing, tracking and quarantine strategies
People entering the country were sent into immediate two-week quarantine and they started checking the temperatures of people entering supermarkets and some apartment buildings. They also implemented aggressive but effective testing, tracking and quarantine strategies. The biggest number of cases came from a Paddy’s Day event in a bar in District 2, one of the expat areas in Ho Chi Minh City.
Five days after the event, we found out that someone at the party, a British pilot, had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
Several apartment complexes went into lockdown when they found out that some of their residents had been diagnosed with the virus
The police looked at the cameras from the night, and with the help of some employers, found out the names of the people that were in the bar, and brought them into quarantine. Several apartment complexes went into lockdown when they found out that some of their residents had been diagnosed with the virus.
The police also spoke to all landlords, asking if their tenants entered the country since the beginning of March. My sister and her boyfriend Mark were brought by ambulance to get tested because they had gone to Australia for Easter break. Their temperatures were taken and cotton swabs were taken from their noses and throats.
Qatar Airways then suspended all their flights from 12 April, and since the only flight left was €1,700, I decided to stay in Vietnam
They were sent home and received negative results a few days later. I had a flight booked for 17 April as I wanted to get home before things got worse in Ireland. Qatar Airways then suspended all their flights from 12 April, and since the only flight left was €1,700, I decided to stay in Vietnam.
With our number of cases decreasing, the lockdown has been lifted and businesses are slowly reopening again in Ho Chi Minh. The streets are full of motorbikes again, the shopping centres, restaurants and bars are open, and things are looking like they could be back to normal here in a month or so.
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