Hey, everybody. I just wanted to check in with a sitrep on what it has been like here in Ho Chi Minh City for the past couple of months. Right now it is the wee hours of 11 April 2020. For us, the Coronavirus situation began to kick in at the beginning of February.
This was right after the Tet holiday. So many people (especially expats) were returning to Ho Chi Minh City, and other parts of Vietnam, after having travelled around for the two week vacation. What we now realize, is that this return of so many people who had travelled around Southeast Asia and the rest of the world, was the time when Covid 19 cases began to make their way into the country.
Although precautions were lax back then, Vietnam has been relatively fortunate. There are still less than 500 reported cases here. Luckily, At the beginning of March, when cases in China and Italy were still skyrocketing, the Vietnamese Government began taking more stringent preemptive measures. For example, many major airliners such as Asians Airlines, were turned away midflight. And as a result of these and other meaningful actions on the part of the Vietnamese administration, the outbreak has been reasonably contained here.
For the past week – since 06 April, the entire country has been on semi lockdown. I say semi, because you can still go out for necessities
like food and medicine. But you have to keep at least 2 meters from any other person. And gatherings – including for business, of more than
2 or 3 people are prohibited. These measures do appear to be working. As the growth of new virus cases does not seem to be steepening all that sharply based on what has been reported. However, reported infections have increased.
I have included some photos of what it has been like here in these past few weeks. There is an eerie sort of calm. There are very few people
out during the day as a result of the social distancing measures that are in place. And if you know anything about what Ho Chi Minh City is
normally like trafficwise, then you can appreciate how strange it all seems. Though I know the same goes for other cities around the world as well.
All we can do is hope that things turn around soon. Stay safe everybody. And try to remain mentally positive as best you can.
Although I know it won’t be easy.
Hold tight.
Ken
