She quoted CNN as saying Vietnam ignored China and the World Health Organization’s initial insistence that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission and immediately deployed strict quarantine and contact tracing.

Vietnam’s first coronavirus cases were not reported until January 23, but by that time the country was prepared, Kennedy said, adding that Vietnam declared a national epidemic on February 1, though it had just six confirmed cases.

All flights between Vietnam and China were halted, followed by a suspension of visas for Chinese citizens, she said. Vietnam was able to lift social distancing restrictions in late April after a three-week shutdown, and hasn’t reported any local infections for more than 40 days. Businesses and schools have reopened, and life is slowly resuming its former pace, according Kennedy.

British freelance journalist Georgina Quach said preventing the spread of COVID-19 becomes a priority for millions of Vietnamese people. In a recent article on the website OneZero, she spotlights Vietnam’s success in the battle against the pandemic, saying that one of VN’s most effective tools was public education deployed via mainstream and social media.

The German website Marzahn-hellersdorf assessed Vietnam's success against COVID-19, identifying early action, contact tracing, and public information as the key factors.

The website quoted health experts as saying the early, rapid response of the Government, aggressive contact tracing, effective isolation measures, and an extensive public information campaign allowed Vietnam to control the epidemic. So far no one in Vietnam has died from COVID-19. According to the article, Vietnam prepared to respond to the outbreak several weeks before recording its first cases, even though China and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared there was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.