Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia ...

[welshpeony]

Just been reading about Vietnam, reported zero deaths. How are these countries doing this Vietnam has a border with China (0 deaths), Hong Kong (4 deaths), Taiwan (6 deaths), Singapore (12 deaths) doing this ? It's extraordinary because there are normally loads of Chinese business men and women in these countries, with family and business links there, and so much back and forth between these places.

Is it the tropical climate ? The mask wearing ? All the daily disinfecting since learning from SARS in 2003 ? I can't work it out.

I think it is partly the impact of SARS. Populations remember SARS or (if they are very young) remember older people talking about SARS. Ordinary citizens and businesses went on the alert as soon as they heard the scary words "novel coronavirus in China", and voluntarily starting social distancing, slapping the masks on, scrubbing hands and sending people to work from home.

Masks are basically universal in HK, Vietnam and Taiwan, and are quite common in S'pore. The government in S'pore did not tell people to wear masks right away---I think they are regretting that now, as they have had a bit of a spike.

They are all engaging in testing and tracing of contacts. The governments took this thing seriously too, just like their citizens did.

But the other thing that really stands out is the use of centralized quarantine--i.e., infected people are discovered through testing and then encouraged to stay in a facility (unused hotel room or whatever) until they are safe. This prevents the spread of the virus through households. When an infected person is simply left to hang around at home, they are basically bathing the other family members in a thick haze of virus. This not only creates a high risk of infecting the other family members, but also creates a high risk that these other people will develop very severe cases or even die. The initial dose of the virus appears to be very important with this disease, just as it was with SARS.

Thanks Kokeshi, really interesting !!

I was in Vietnam and Thailand recently. You're asked to declare your health status when you enter the country and ask you where you've been. If we'd have come from Italy to Vietnam we'd have been turned away. If we'd have come from the UK two weeks later we'd have been turned away... They closed the border. Our taxi got pulled over and out temperatures taken... Temperature taken at bars and restaurants
.. Hand sanitizer everywhere and thrust on you... They're quarantining people in camps... Basically they are doing more than us.

Oh yes and tracing cases. Once one is found they take full details about where they've been and when, literally down to the hour - 'at 11am on Friday they were in this supermarket - where you there too?' that sort of thing. Also closing entire hotels if there is a suspected case. It was a bit nuts

It was a bit nuts

Or, in fact, right on the money?

It was a nuts experience.

Speaking to a Vietnamese colleague she puts it down to the track and trace information collecting. The compliance of the population is a key aspect of this as they have accepted it as necessary even though there are privacy concerns.

So impressive. Thanks for these insider views !

reported by my parents in Vietnam. They had dealt with Sars, so government does have experience.
Close schools very early on, close borders with countries with high cases very early on, and main thing is track, trace and test. If you come from identified countries, 14 days isolation at detention centre (set up at the community level), suspected cases will also need to go to isolation centre, police visit for a chat if you travelled from overseas. If there's a case found in your neighborhood, track and chase who they have met, and lock down the town (no movement in and out) until 14 days passed and testing everyone. I don't think these measures can ever apply here in UK.

Masks are worn before the virus (pretty common), but now compulsory to wear one.

I don't think these measures can ever apply here in UK

Why not? The government are at last talking seriously about contact tracing but there will be no point unless we also set up proper isolation for those who have the virus and proper quarantine of contacts.

People said lockdown could never apply to the UK yet here we are.

This is the way out of lockdown.

Yes, why not do this ? Just cos it’s not China, why are we ignoring the successful things going on elsewhere in Asia in these beautiful countries, who have 20 years experience of novel respiratory virus ??

Racism? Politics?

Jenny Harries said it's because WHO advice is only for poor and middle income countries and we have a well functioning public health system so we don't need to listen to other countries and can do our own thing