Good morning! Hello to the slew of new subscribers, and a big thanks for the wonderful shout-outs from the good folks behind Travelfish, Dari Mulut ke Mulut and We, the citizens.
I had two stories published this week: one for New Naratif on urban Vietnam's worsening smog, and another for Mongabay on a potential wildlife trade ban in Vietnam.
Since I'm sure everyone is stressed right now (if you're not - I envy you), I'm going to lead with a few links that brought me joy in the last few days, before diving into another big Covid-19 week for Vietnam.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has set up webcams in its exhibits, so you can watch otters and penguins frolic, or just relax to the calming movements of a coral reef. In other aquarium news, the Shedd in Chicago let their penguins roam around the halls since the facility is closed to the public, and the result was delightful. We're sticking with oceans here, with dolphins appearing in the canals of Venice - incredible! (Please share other amusing/whimsical material.)
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On to the news. More Covid-19 Cases & Heavy Travel Restrictions
The Ministry of Health announced ten new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the national total to 76, 60 of which are active cases, with two in critical condition. Four of the ten are foreigners, and five of these cases are in Hanoi. One each was detected in Phu Tho, Hai Duong, Ninh Thuan, Da Nang and Saigon.
All were linked to international flights, and all of Vietnam's current cases were either directly imported, or transmitted from someone who had flown in from abroad.
As of this writing (Thursday night), there were two more suspected cases in Saigon, including a British pilot who went to a popular Thao Dien bar/restaurant twice since Saturday.
The government has responded with intense travel restrictions (I'm not going to link to everything, just trust me): the issuance of new visas to all nationalities has been suspended, though there are exceptions for diplomats, experts and overseas Vietnamese. VietJet is suspending all flights to ASEAN nations, while Vietnam Airlines will halt all of its international flights by March 25. Anyone arriving from anywhere will be placed in quarantine for 14 days - this includes transit passengers. Domestic destinations such as Ha Long Bay, Con Dao, Cat Ba, Phu Quoc and Sa Pa have stopped accepting visitors, and I'm sure that list will grow. Face masks are also now mandatory in crowded public places.
People shouldn't really be traveling at this point anyway, but if you had plans to visit Vietnam, now is not the time.
Saigon has closed bars, beer clubs, karaoke parlors, spas and movie theaters until the end of the month, though most restaurants are still open. Hanoi and Da Nang have taken similar action, as have smaller cities. The leader of Hanoi has asked residents to stay home as much as possible until the end of March. Daily life in Saigon is still rather normal, though more people are working from home and nightlife areas are dead at night. Grocery stores (at least the ones I've been to) are fully stocked, and there is no sense of panic. (Again, at least where I've been.)
Thousands of Vietnamese are now returning from overseas on a daily basis as they flee the outbreak hot zones of Europe and the US. (Let the irony of that sink in for a minute.) This is placing immense strain on quarantine facilities, and the military is working to add 20,000 beds to its total, creating space for 60,000 people nationwide.
According to the Ministry of Health's dedicated Covid-19 site, 41,918 people are in isolation as of this writing, 34,443 of whom are being isolated at home. That site also lists all of the active cases and where they came from.
To get an idea of what life in quarantine (or at least, one such facility) is like, I highly recommend this piece written by a Brit has been there since March 14. Chau Bui, a model and influencer, has also been praised for her positive attitude and lighthearted social media posts from inside quarantine.
Meanwhile, the health sector has readied 90,000 doctors and 125,000 nurses to deal with the outbreak, while current medical students will also be enlisted if needed.
Given all of this, I am very happy to be in Vietnam right now. Watching conditions in the US rapidly deteriorate has been extremely upsetting (though also entirely predictable), and while there is little doubt that more cases will occur here, I have a lot of confidence in people not freaking out, and in the government reacting decisively.
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed me wondering why Vietnam is being left out of the international media narrative of Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong being the ultimate success stories in the fight against this outbreak. (After all, Vietnam has an extensive land border with China.) It was then brought to my attention that Vietnam hadn't actually done much testing - a couple of days ago the total was under 10,000, whereas South Korea has been testing up to 20,000 people per day. According to that ministry site linked above, the figure is now at 14,950, so it seems testing is ramping up quickly, while Vietnam is also exporting test kits.
Of course, there are skeptics out there who don't believe the Vietnamese government, and I am fully aware that most domestic media is heavily controlled, but I don't believe anything massive is being hidden. Are there undetected cases out there? Surely, but the proactive steps taken in recent days and weeks have comforted a lot of people. I know expats (myself included) often critical of things here who are perfectly content to stay put and ride this out in Vietnam. This is a good op-ed on just that.
The one dark side at the moment is the rise of discrimination against foreigners, which the government has ordered local officials to deal with severely. (Stuff like this doesn't help.) I sincerely hope it goes away once the pandemic dissipates. Extra Links:
