The first cases discovered in Ho Chi Minh City were two people from Wuhan (China), the disease then spread in 13 other localities.
2
25 July 2020 – 27 January 2021
1,136
554
35
The epicenter was in Da Nang, the source of infection may be from Hospital C in the city.
3
28 January – 26 April 2021
1,301
910
0
This outbreak started in Hai Duong from a person who was found positive after entering Japan, and the true source of the infection is unknown. The epicenter was in Hai Duong, this local outbreak accounting for nearly 80% of the total number of cases.
4
27 April 2021 – ongoing Last official number at 31 October 2023
The first two confirmed cases in Vietnam, a Chinese man, born in 1954 and his son, were admitted to Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, on 22 January 2020. The son was believed to have contracted the virus from his father, who had earlier flown from Wuhan on 13 January, when they met in Nha Trang on 17 January.[5][6][7] The first cluster also appeared in Son Loi Commune, Bình Xuyên District, Vĩnh Phúc after a few workers returned from a training trip in Wuhan and infected other people in close contact with them.[8] The Vietnamese government immediately locked down Bình Xuyên District until 4 March 2020 to prevent the disease from spreading all over the country, the first large-scale lockdown outside China.[9] Having known cases early is one of the main reasons why Vietnam was successful in fighting the virus. For the first 16 cases of the disease, the medical staff had to treat different types of patients, including infants, the elderly and people with underlying conditions. This is like "an exercises" for the Vietnamese medical system in order to prepare and study the new virus.[10]
March 2020–2021: sporadic outbreaks and strict measures[edit]
When the pandemic spreads across the globe, the coronavirus cases in the country also surged, and on the evening of 6 March, the Hanoi Department of Health confirmed the first case in the capital, a 26-year-old woman who had travelled to Europe. This is the 17th case in Vietnam.[11] On the afternoon of 20 March, the Ministry of Health announced 2 new COVID-19 patients, the 86th and 87th, who were two female nurses at Bạch Mai Hospital with no history of contact with any COVID-19 patients.[12] In March and April 2020, the number of cases increased rapidly due to the large number of people coming from European countries and the appearance of clusters such as Bạch Mai Hospital, Ha Loi Commune in Hanoi and Buddha Bar in Ho Chi Minh City.[13][14][15]
After 21 March 2020, Vietnam suspended entry for all foreigners from midnight of 22 March, and introduced concentrated isolation for 14 days in all cases of entry for Vietnamese citizens.[16] From 1 April, Vietnam implemented a 15 days nationwide lockdown.[17] On the same day, former Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc announced the nationwide outbreak of COVID-19.[18] The drastic epidemic control measures had positive results and the country did not confirm any cases of local transmission from mid-April to the end of July.[19] Vietnam began loosening restrictions in May, including resuming domestic travel across the country.[citation needed]
The country entered second wave of infection when the Ministry of Health announced the 416th case in Da Nang, which was the first case with an unknown source of infection in 99 days.[20][21] On 28 July, the Da Nang authorities immediately locked down the city for 15 days.[22] Hundreds of cases across the country with epidemiological factors related to Da Nang were furthermore detected,[23] and the first death was also recorded on 31 July.[24][25] After two months, by using the same strategies that have been used in the first outbreak, Vietnam has successfully contained the disease for the second time and has resumed almost all economic activities, including international commercial flights.[26][27] Sporadic community infections continue during November and December, causing public scare and heightened measures.[28][29]
The third wave of infection began on 28 January 2021, when Vietnam recorded an additional 84 community transmission cases within a single day in Hải Dương and Quảng Ninh provinces. Most of these are related to a single Hải Dương migrant worker, who was diagnosed with the UK coronavirus variant by Japanese authorities after arriving in Osaka on 17 January.[30] Initially, the government only quarantine the areas directly related to the infected people to limit the economic impact. But after half a month the number of cases still showed no signs of stopping, so on 15 February, entire province of Hải Dương was locked down for 15 days while Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City stopped all entertainment activities.[31][32] This is one of the most serious outbreak due to slow tracing process, mismanagement in quarantine facilities and people starting to ignore lockdown rules after long period of restrictions.[33][34] On 7 March 2021, the situation in northern provinces appears to have been largely brought under control when number of new cases fell to single digits. Along with that, Vietnam started its mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign on the next day.[35][36]
From 3 September 2020 to 15 May 2021, the country recorded no new COVID-19 related deaths.
May 2021–present: Severe outbreak and 'endemic' stage[edit]
From the end of April 2021, Vietnam experienced "a fast-spreading outbreak" of more than 350,000 cases. Clusters have been found in industrial parks in Bac Giang province and then in at least ten major hospitals in the country.[37][38] As the epidemic has spread to many provinces in Vietnam, many outbreaks are occurring in many localities at the same time, making it "nearly impossible" to trace and cut the chain of infection. According to WHO, to prepare for the worsening situation, the country has built more than 30 field hospitals with a scale of 1,500 ICU beds and 30,000 non-ICU beds. When total cases reached a few thousands per day, the Central government decided to lock down the entire Southern Region with 35 million people, along with the capital, Hanoi, to contain the spread.[39][40] On 26 July 2021, for the first time in the country's disease prevention history, Ho Chi Minh City imposed a daily night curfew beginning at 6:00 pm. As a result, no one is permitted to leave the city, and only emergency services are permitted to operate.[41][42] On 28 July, the National Assembly gave the central government in Hanoi mandate to implement emergency measures for curbing the pandemic locally.[43] On 20 August, Nguyễn Thành Phong was dismissed by the Politburo as chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City.[44] The government also mobilized 10,000 troops to the city to enforce the lockdown and deliver food supplies.[45][46][47] One of the main reasons for this outbreak is a four-day holiday for Reunification Day and International Workers' Day, which saw many vacation destinations packed with travelers.[48][49][50][51] In addition, gene sequencing results show that the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant is the dominant variant in this wave, especially among cases in central and southern localities of Vietnam.[52]
On 29 August, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính stated that Vietnam might have to live with the virus and could not rely on indefinite closures and quarantines. This marked a major change in the country's approach to COVID-19,[53][54][55] forcing Vietnam to accelerate its vaccination campaign to control the pandemic.[56] The number of new cases began to fall to several thousand per day in mid-September, and restrictions were eased.[57] Vietnam recorded its first case of the Omicron variant in December, leading to a significant new wave of infections going into the first months of 2022, with the highest 7-day average of 206,402 cases recorded on 13 March.[58] However, due to the country's widespread vaccination coverage, deaths remained low in proportion to the number of confirmed cases.[59]
In March 2022, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính declared COVID-19 to be "endemic" and considered ending daily reporting of new cases.[60] An article in Bloomberg noted that Vietnam has a high level of vaccination and has seen a dramatic drop in COVID-19 related deaths.[61] However, in August, the Ministry of Health issued a recommendation to not declare COVID-19 endemic, and to instead shift the country's response from "prevention" to "stable management".[62]
On 14 January, two Chinese tourists with fever symptoms from Wuhan were quarantined by the authorities and placed under observation after they landed at Da Nang International Airport. Hanoi dispatched a medical team to the coastal city and called an emergency meeting the next day on prevention efforts.[63]
On 23 January, Vietnam confirmed the first two cases of COVID-19.[64] Vietnam Ministry of Health issued two hotline numbers for information on the coronavirus disease, and advised citizens to contact the nearest healthcare center if they had its symptoms.[64] On 24 January, Acting Minister of Health Vũ Đức Đam ordered the activation of the Emergency Epidemic Prevention Centre.[65] Vietnamese doctors documented and reported the two cases to medical journal The New England Journal of Medicine, at that time this was the first concrete evidence to the scientific community about human-to-human transmission of the disease outside China.[66][67] On 29 January, the 2nd COVID-19 patient had fully recovered and was discharged.[68] His father, who was the 1st COVID-19 patient in Vietnam, was discharged on 12 February.[66]
On 29 January, the Ministry of Health established 40 mobile emergency response teams, on stand-by to assist affected locations, for quarantining, disinfecting, and transporting patients or suspected patients.[69] A week after the first two cases, three positive cases were confirmed by the Ministry of Health, involving Vietnamese nationals who had returned from Wuhan. Case No. 3 (25-yr-old female) was quarantined and cured in Thanh Hóa Province, while the other two cases (#4: 29-yr-old male; #5: 23-yr-old female) were hospitalised in Hanoi.[70][71] Case No. 5 was discharged on 3 February, fully recovered and after testing negative for the virus.[72]
Vietnamese people panic buying instant noodles in a supermarket during the early days of the pandemic.
On 1 February, a 25-year-old woman (#6) was declared coronavirus-positive in Khánh Hòa Province. She has worked as a receptionist and had direct contact with the Chinese father and son (cases #1–2).[73] This case was discharged from the hospital on 4 February.[74] Noticeably, this case was the first domestic transmission in Vietnam, leading to an epidemic declaration signed by the Vietnamese Prime Minister and calls for border tightening, aviation permits revoked, and visa restriction.[75][76][77][78]
On 2 February, a Vietnamese American (#7) got infected with coronavirus, due to two-hour layover in Wuhan airport during his trip from the US.[79]
After 3 February, everyone entering from China to Vietnam must comply with the 14-day epidemiological check-up and health-monitoring procedure to ensure that the COVID-19 epidemic does not getting worse.[80]
On 3–4 February, Vietnam announced their eighth and ninth case: a 29-year-old female (#8) and a 30-year-old male (#9). They belonged to the same training team with the previous confirmed cases of three (cases #3-through-5).[81][82]
Later on 4 February, the 10th case was identified. A 42-year-old female met and greeted with the case No. 5 during Lunar New Year holiday.[83] Mother (49-year-old, #11) and younger sister (16-year-old, #12) of the case No. 5 were also transmitted on 6 February.[84]
On 7 February, Vietnam confirmed their 13th case, a 29-year-old worker, a member of the same training crew as the 5 previously confirmed cases (case #3,4,5,8,9).[85]
Earlier of the same day, Vietnam declared to have successfully cultured and isolated the virus in the lab, one of the early countries to do this, along with Singapore, Australia, Japan and China.[86]
On 9 February, a 55-year-old woman, a neighbour of case No. 5, tested positive; the 14th case.[87]
On 10 February, three more cases: #4, #5 and #9 were declared to be recovered.[88]
The 15th case was identified on 11 February, a 3-month-old grandchild of case No. 10.[89] This case also marked the 10th case found in Vinh Phuc and prompted Vinh Phuc province leadership to implement quarantine of the at-risk village named Son Loi with more than 10,600 people, activating mobile food shops and handing out free masks to all villagers, in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.[90] 10,600 villagers were divided into groups of 50–60 households each, each group assigned to a supervision team responsible for daily household visits and health-checks. The quarantine of Son Loi village was scheduled to last 14 days.[91]
On 13 February, father of case No. 5 was tested positive, making the number of cases in Vietnam 16.[92]
On 25 February, the 16th was released from the hospital after being tested negative from the COVID-19, temporarily made Vietnam cleared from COVID-19 outbreak.[93] However, quarantine measures continue to be imposed until further notice.[94]
On 3 March, after 20 days without new case of coronavirus, Son Loi village was approved to remove quarantine.[95]
CGV Cinema at Hanoi Times City, temporarily closed in March 2020.A quarantine area in Vietnam during COVID-19
On 6 March night, Hanoi urgently announced a new case of coronavirus, the first one found in the capital of Vietnam. The patient (case #17), a 26-year-old woman, had been travelling across Europe during the outbreak. She had been exhibiting several symptoms, but didn't cooperating with the authorities about her travel history or health conditions to avoid quarantine.[96][97] Within the night, the government proceeded to track and isolate roughly 200 people who either had close contact, lived on the same street, or had been on the same flight VN0054 from London as patient No. 17.[98][99] The incident also sparked a wave of stockpiling purchases across the city.[100]
On 7 March afternoon, a 27-year-old Vietnamese was diagnosed with COVID-19 and moved into quarantine in Ninh Bình Province for treatment, making this the 18th case. This patient had previously been in Daegu for several days in February and, prior to testing positive, had already been quarantined – along with all passengers on the same flight from South Korea – since he re-entered Vietnam.[101] Just 2 hours later, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health confirmed 2 more cases (#19-#20) in Hanoi, both related to the 17th case.[102] The same day, Hanoi city expanded the scope of contact tracing to F5 and raised the quarantine procedures by one level, meaning F1 to be quarantined in hospitals and treated the same as a patient case, F2-F3 to be moved into central quarantine, and F4-F5 to self-quarantine at home, with temperature checked twice per day.[102]
On 8 March, another case in Hanoi was announced, which was a 61-year-old man.[103] Later this day, 9 more cases was announced, with 4 cases in Quảng Ninh, 2 cases in Lào Cai, 2 cases in Đà Nẵng and 1 case in Thừa Thiên – Huế. All ten cases (#21-#30) were foreigners tracked from the same flight into Vietnam with case No. 17.[104]
On 9 March evening, a 49-year-old British man was tested positive (case #31) and put into quarantine in Quảng Nam Province, previously on the same flight with patient number 17.[105]
On 10 March, a 24-year-old Vietnamese woman who had just returned from England and previously had close contact with case No. 17 while in London, tested positive (case #32). She had flown back to Vietnam in a private jet with quarantined cabin – after becoming aware that case No. 17 was infected – to seek healthcare in her home country.[106] Later that day, another British man was found infected with the virus (case #33), who was on the same flight with case No. 17.[107] Before the end of the day, the 34th case was identified, a 51-year-old businesswoman who had visited the United States, with a brief transit in Korea and Qatar during the trip.[108]
On 11 March, Vietnam confirmed their 35th case of COVID-19, a 29-year-old woman who works in an electronics supermarket in Da Nang, and had phys
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