| Summary/Abstract |
Vietnam's efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic have been widely praised. The country's leadership took early action to close its borders and reduce community transmission and kept case numbers low, at least in the first year. Between 23 January 2020, when the first cases were detected in Vietnam, and 25 March 2021, the end of the third wave of infection, the country experienced just 2,830 cases and 35 deaths. However, the fourth wave, from 27 April 2021 to 30 March 2022 (when the Vietnamese government declared a formal end to the pandemic), saw over ten million confirmed cases, and 42,454 recorded fatalities. This article examines why the first three waves were successfully contained and the fourth wave of COVID was so much more damaging.
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