The corona virus outbreak takes Hanoi 40 years later

AFP, Posted on Friday, July 30, 2021 at 07:27 AM.

Roadblocks, food stamps, restrictions of all kinds: The corona virus outbreak reminds the older generation of Hanoi of some dark pages in Vietnamese history.

The capital is defined as almost a week. Its eight million people have been ordered to stay at home, excluding special reasons, and must be kept at least two meters outside to try to prevent an epidemic from invading the country.

Hundreds of checkpoints have been set up in the city to check the reasons for the displacement. “It’s reminiscent of colonial times,” 70-year-old Tran Van Done told AFP.

In order to avoid very large crowds, food stamps are distributed so that he can shop at the market near his home and only on a specific day.

Underlining the 50-year-old Wo The Sian from the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 to the beginning of the economic reforms in 1986 is “like what we had when the economy was subsidized”.

The country then distributes ration tickets for rice, meat, vegetables and other basic necessities in spite of everything.

Today, these coupons are “a good idea to help maintain social distance (…) but I can no longer go to the market when I want to”, do the la lawn on, after buying enough tofu, and beef for several days to feed the family.

“This crisis must end quickly so that our lives can return to normal,” says the kindergarten teacher, who said schools have been closed since May.

Most residents obey the rules, but queues of vehicles are still seen on the streets during emergencies.

Fan The High Yen, an officer stationed at a checkpoint, sighs that many offices and companies “provide travel documents to their employees and do not comply with recommendations for working online.”

Because of this, “the risk of spreading Govt-19 is even higher”.

According to data provided by the authorities, in recent days, several thousand people living in the capital have been fined for unauthorized, unmasked or re-enlisted.

Vietnam, which was able to cross the 2020 milestone with a small number of cases, today finds itself vulnerable to the recession of the vaccine campaign, as do many of its neighbors.

Only 5.3 million doses were given to 100 million people.

One-third of the population is subject to travel restrictions.

Residents of Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic hub, especially those affected by the epidemic, have been locked up and placed under curfew since early July.