Good morning! I hope everyone had a good weekend, all things considered. Time for an update after another busy few days of COVID-19 developments in Vietnam.
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Vietnam's case total increased from 153 on Thursday evening to 194 this morning. A seriously concerning cluster has emerged at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, which now has 25 infections linked to it. The six cases announced this morning are employees of a company which provides food and logistics services to the facility, one of the country's largest medical centers.
The hospital has been placed under lockdown, while chemical units from the military disinfected the entire place on Saturday night.
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who is the public face of Vietnam's battle against the outbreak, has ordered an all-out mobilization to contain the Bach Mai cluster, calling it a "big, dangerous outbreak." Anyone who visited the hospital since March 12 has been asked to report themselves to health officials.
On the bright side, nine more patients have recovered, bringing that total to 25, and 65 individuals have tested negative at least once. No deaths have been reported. Meanwhile, 75,085 people are in isolation (38,372 at home, the rest at government quarantine facilities), and 35,808 people have been tested.
Beyond the Bach Mai cluster, most of the new cases announced over the weekend were people who had been quarantined upon arrival in the country, which is good, but the government is clearly worried about that hospital.
Leaders have said that the country will not hit 1,000 cases if strong measures continue to be taken, and on Sunday Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told officials in Saigon and Hanoi to ensure that they have lockdown plans in place in case those orders are given.
Transportation is already being restricted, with Vietnam Airlines cutting domestic routes from 35 to eight, with just 10% the usual number of seats operating until April 15. Each domestic airline will only be allowed to operate one Saigon-Hanoi (and vice versa) flight per day - this route is usually among the 10 busiest in the world on a daily basis - while most other routes have been discontinued.
Amid all of this, Vietnam's first-quarter GDP growth was just 3.82%, the lowest figure in a decade.
At this stage, I'm not sure how likely it is that a full lockdown will be ordered for Saigon and/or Hanoi. The transport restrictions could be easing us toward that, but beyond Bach Mai (and the Buddha Bar cluster in Saigon), there isn't much reported evidence of major community transmission. That could all change as you're reading this, of course, so we shall see.
Saigon is certainly quiet, though supermarkets are still well-stocked, and the air quality has been absolutely incredible (22 yesterday afternoon!). If you've never listened to the Saigoneer Podcast, our new episode is worth starting with - it includes dispatches from four different districts to give an idea of what things are like.
In closing, below are some photos I took yesterday which show just how quiet it is:
Stay safe and wash your hands! Back on Friday.
