India's scale of action on COVID-19 containment appreciated by Hanoi: Indian envoy to Vietnam

Vietnam has appreciated the scale of action taken in India on lockdown and social distancing norms, India's Envoy to Vietnam Pranay Verma said. Speaking exclusively to Our Diplomatic Correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Hanoi, Pranay Verma said both the countries have had similar approaches in dealing with the crisis and currently both "have among the lowest per capita incidents of infections" in the world. He also talked about how the mission is reaching out to Indians stranded in the country, many of the tourist and short term visitors.

WION: How is the Indian mission reaching to stranded Indians in the country?

Pranay Verma: COVID pandemic has impacted lives and travel all over the world. Our Embassy and consulate general in Ho Chi Minh City have actively been reaching out to Indian nationals who are held up in Vietnam in the wake of travel restrictions. Most people who are stranded in Vietnam are tourists and business travellers or short term visitors who could not return to India before the travel restrictions came up. We have extensively used social media tools to inform all our Indian nationals in Vietnam including community members who live in Vietnam as well as those who are visiting Vietnam and are held up about our 24*7 emergency coordinates. We have launched an online drive to register Indian Nationals in Vietnam. We are encouraging them to contact us for any assistance from Visa extension, any logistics or subsistence needs that are required to make their extended stay in Vietnam manageable. At the same time, the Indian community in Vietnam and the community organisation like the Indian business chamber have been extremely helpful in playing a proactive role in establishing contacts through social media networks within the larger community to ensure that any person in need is quickly identified and reached out to. We are also in touch with the Vietnamese authorities to seek assistance in making sure those currently held back in Vietnam do not face any undue hardships. Thankfully, we have had no cases of Indian nationals in Vietnam catching the COVID virus infection. In short, other than return to India, which is not something which we can control from here, we stand ready to extend and are extending all possible assistance to make the stay of our stranded citizens in Vietnam as convenient as practically possible.

WION: How are India and Vietnam cooperating on COVID pandemic? Are we sending HCQ or importing kits or anything?

Pranay Verma: India and Vietnam have maintained close contact during the fight against COVID 19. PM Modi spoke telephonically to Vietnamese PM on April 13th and discussed the situation arising out of the pandemic and the steps our two countries are taking to address the challenge. We are also engaged via diplomatic channels, exchanging information on best practices. India traditionally plays the role of a major provider of pharmaceuticals to Vietnam and this engagement has continued during COVID 19 outbreak. If you look at the way both India and Vietnam have approached the COVID 19 pandemic, there are many similarities in terms of early and precise actions taken, including travel restrictions, containment strategies- quarantine and social distancing enforcements, contact tracing etc. while ensuring at the same time significant ramping up of medical preparedness. Largely as a result of these actions, one can say, both countries have been able to witness among the lowest per capita incidence of infections.

WION: Have we shared any Indian containment model or anything to learn from Vietnam's containment model?

Pranay Verma: As I said, we are closely engaged with Vietnam, by exchanging information and best practices and prevention and containment strategies. We are providing detailed briefings to the Vietnamese side on actions India is taking. The Vietnamese side has appreciated the enormity and scale of action taken in India to enforce social distancing through the lockdown. Similarly, we are also regularly updating authorities in India about developments in Vietnam, their best practices, achievements including indigenous development of testing kits, use of technology in contact tracing, enforcing social distancing and the overall success in managing the pandemic.

WION: How has the ground situation in Vietnam changed, how are Indian diplomats faring?

Pranay Verma: As of date, COVID situation in Vietnam appears to have been largely contained. Vietnam has reported 271 total positive cases since the first case was reported in late January. Vietnam has not seen any case of community transmission since around the middle of April. Thanks for inquiring about the well being of our diplomats and our officials. Throughout social distancing restrictions that were put in place in Vietnam since April 1, the embassy and our consulate general has remained open, though with reduced staff strength. We have been particularly alert that our consular services are not disrupted and that we are actively able to extend consular assistance to Indian nationals throughout this period. With social distancing norms now relaxed since April 22nd, life seems to be gradually coming back to normal, schools have reopened from this week and we are also back to work in full strength and all our diplomats, officials and local staffs are in good spirits.