[VNA] Together, we overcame fear!

By Cao Thi Thuy Giang – Vietnam Plus correspondent

Early in the year, shortly after the first signs of an increase in coronavirus cases in China appeared and Vietnam had reported its first infection, I joined the health sector’s efforts in communicating aspects of disease prevention and control. The more than five months I reported on the COVID-19 situation were full of indescribable experiences mixed with different feelings: anxiety, happiness, and pride. During my decade and more of covering the health sector, COVID-19 was the longest-lasting outbreak and the one that triggered the most anxiety. In my backpack were always a number of face masks, hand sanitiser, and saline solution so that I could replace old masks, disinfect my hands, and clean my throat whenever I arrived in a pandemic-hit area to file a report. I visited almost all of the COVID-19 “hot spots” and accompanied people like doctors and health workers providing treatment directly to patients, border guards tasked with preventing illegal border crossings, staff at Van Don International Airport in northern Quang Ninh province handling flights bringing overseas Vietnamese home, and staff at hotels serving as quarantine facilities, to report on their predicament so that people could understand what was happening and would cooperate with assigned agencies. I tried to show through my articles a Vietnam responding to the pandemic with joint effort and unanimity of purpose among all sectors and the entire population. I remember the first time I set foot in the COVID-19 centre in Binh Xuyen district in Vinh Phuc province on the afternoon of February 18. I felt anxious. During my many years covering health care, I had reported on epidemics such as measles, flu, dengue fever, foot-and-mouth disease, and meningitis. But COVID-19 was new, and Vietnamese doctors were still learning about it at the time. Only by seeing with my own eyes the pressure put on local medical infrastructure did I realise that the efforts of medical staff deserved everyone’s respect. That drove me to write in-depth stories so that readers could gain an insight into the difficulties facing medical workers and the effort being made at the grassroots level. The journey Vietnam has undergone to defeat COVID-19 is a proud feat. And it is also a feat for me - a health correspondent, as I has overcome the fear that this was a horrible pandemic, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with all forces to pen articles and keep the public informed. Patients were announced successfully cured of COVID-19 disease at Quang Ha Regional General Clinic, Binh Xuyen District, Vinh Phuc Province. The COVID-19 patient who is the Vietnamese in the most severe condition was successfully cured at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases.