Covid-19 pandemic and Vietnamese P’s lesson of “turning defeat into victory”

Flow of workers from Saigon fleeing to their hometowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, in September 2021

One of the disasters for Vietnamese people in recent years is probably the Covid-19 pandemic. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, the total number of deaths due to the Covid-19 epidemic reached 43,178. That’s not to mention the millions of workers who lost their jobs due to the extreme blockade policy.

It is worth mentioning that the Government’s irresponsible and unscientific way of dealing with the epidemic has given rise to the situation of taking advantage of the epidemic for personal gain by organizations and individuals within the state apparatus.

Yet, the Government newspaper on October 29 had the title: “Prime Minister: Vietnam’s spirit, Vietnam’s bravery are once again affirmed.” The article said that on the morning of October 29, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the Conference summarizing the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, online with officials of the localities.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed: “Success in the fight against the pandemic once again affirms the Vietnamese spirit, the Vietnamese bravery of not backing down in the face of all difficulties and challenges, the more pressure, the more effort.”

This statement shows that PM Chinh has declared that Vietnam has successfully fought the Covid-19 epidemic.

Public opinion was surprised by his statement, and found that it completely contradicts the reality and results of the recent Covid-19 epidemic.

In fact, during more than five peak months of the pandemic, from April to the end of September 2021, the Government directed the blockade of many provinces and cities, especially the southern provinces, to Covid-19 epidemic prevention.

From tracing, then sending people exposed to the Covid-19 virus to quarantine and centralized treatment, was the most disastrous policy mistake. Because, why placing people in concentrated areas after being quarantined?

That is, putting people infected and not infected with the virus into concentrated housing causes cross-infection to occur, and the number of infected people increases rapidly. This has caused the health system to be overloaded, patients not receiving proper care, thereby leading to increased mortality.

Not to mention the fact that the entire normal medical examination and treatment system in hospitals, for diseases not related to Covid-19, is completely paralyzed and cannot function.

Not to mention, since the beginning of May 2021, the Government has made decisions on “social distancing” which is essentially a regional or complete blockade. That forced all stores and traditional markets to close. For weeks, families in high-risk areas (red zones) were not allowed to shop for food or receive supplies. After that, each household is only allowed to go out 1-2 times a week to buy food in supermarkets.

That extreme and wrong policy has left people extremely struggling, with extremely limited income sources and lack of jobs. According to data from the General Statistics Office, by the end of the third quarter of 2021, more than 28.2 million people lost their jobs, had their working hours reduced, their income decreased… due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Loss of jobs and lack of timely support resulted in millions of workers having to overcome the “blockade” to flee big cities, and return to their hometowns. Still according to the General Statistics Office, as of September 2021, about 1.3 million workers in the South had to return to their hometowns, because life in cities and industrial zones was too difficult.

More seriously, it must be mentioned that state officials have taken advantage of the epidemic to “pick pockets” of people, through cases such as rescue flights, or the policy of “massive speedy testing” to force people for testing with fake test kits from Viet A Company.

In the Viet A case, the Investigation Agency of the Ministry of Public Security announced that it had concluded the investigation and proposed to prosecute 38 defendants, including former Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, and former Hanoi Chairman Chu Ngoc Anh.

Journalist Nguyen Thong, in the status “New idiom: Great success” posted on his personal Facebook page, said:

The atheistic and will-only Communists believe only in themselves. For them, there is only going from one victory to another. If they fail, they have a way (especially through propaganda) to turn defeat into victory. They only emphasize, praise, and extol success, while ignoring and burying failures.”

In the past, when they said “good success,” people believed it, but now people understand that good success is always full of ulcers inside, which can burst at any time.

Therefore, public opinion sees that it is not surprising when the Prime Minister affirms that the number of 43,178 deaths in the Covid-19 Pandemic is a success.

Thoibao.de (Translated)

Kasse animation 7.8.2023