Thousands of post. Special coverage of the 25th anniversary of the genocide. There and family ok today on the street looking to look at how the country successfully trickled to run the virus hello cotton welcome to the streets. My name is customisation im a year assistant to the director of health so im a former journalist and ive been helping my director and the chief epidemiologist focus their message to the people. So rich mate its been a quite a right here in washington a good way to talk to you all about well look were looking forward to hearing about it looking to the stream introduce the south to a global audience to your. Thank you for having me my name is. Postdoctoral research and looking at vietnamese integration and Business Response during 90 right have you on this jane and welcome michael to the strain tell everybody. Thanks for me my hands my im a professor of Public Health at a medical school and where im to and thats you know. A cool Advisory Group for our ministry of health. Response to the 19 welcome Michael Moore from him in just a little bit so how does some country its been 990 if you have questions for acts that are on the know what to see if your nicci jump into the chat and you can be part of the conversation and that conversation starts in new zealand going into other level for one of the most stringent variations of lockdown seen across the world for a full 4 weeks was difficult initially for people to adapt to and certainly very hard on businesses and the wider economy but the structure that this offered tied to direct actions that people were expected to take lead to a clarity that was very helpful very constraining and led to an increased sense of safety as it became clear as we approach 2 weeks into that long but it was having a big effect upon case numbers. Michael what do the covert status of new zealand. Weve eliminated the cyrus we havent had a case of local transmission for over 6 weeks so thats obvious a good start to the end we have in store and color those who have detected our arrival here to quarantine so still be a steady stream using it is coming back to the country and developing the onus being diagnosed but there she dont stress and now International Says because in a release from quarantine are 2 they create the virus. Was the visual plan total elimination of coverage 19. No our restaurant is what we were following standard pandemic influenza plan which if you like is a kind of mr gresham approach so thats because you cant really stop through in the borders and you try to fit in a queue of basically and use the courses that by match when a standstill or who transmission museum and we look to the success of the Asian Countries that contain this and fixed and so we changed our which in very softly to a containment which is core of who you know lumination approach and the god of rep as an to stop transmission. Michael one menendez has some very colorful language a new chief he says that to countries are talking about today said including new zealand you have a real leaders in these countries unlike the m words in brazil and the United States he doesnt have a right things to say that he talks about the leadership youre talking to me about silence. If im saying leadership in. You know were i think there are countries that are succeeding that have had this combination of good science good leadership and inventive very decisive and i look at the other countries that also really in many cases across asia but also iceland in a number of other countries that have acted very decisively very proactively to deal with aspirants and they are the ones that has succeeded and of course we have a very in the Senate Leader of this and your own who i think its really taking the whole country with here and so theres been a sort of sense of collective action in new zealand and that really got us through this. Here it we come out of it very cautiously to a virus free country that was that darwin we achieved there what was not doubt like the michael because there are dozens of thing happening all around the world that new zealand to then knock down a credibility seriously what could you do if youre not. Basically it was a bit like a home were you safe and if you had to go out for situ supplies and medical care or you were essential worker and thats like in the whole country into her car and its very effective basically stops the transmission or hes viruses influencer there as well our so it has it has a very good approach if you want to get rid of a virus thats. Ok but im going to make this a little bit because everyone can see it this is raw mean should be and learning says dont get too comfortable yet the worst may be yet to come thats quite ominous is there any sense if he said well were probably free right now but is there a bump ahead. Thats about and we have appeared in most countries changed elimination or close to it have had problems. And i think the advantage of all i mean were gearing up for to tracing you if you notice in even though we are not finding the virus in new zealand and when you look across really across to china singapore south korea straight they were head. Of pursuing elimination is you get your mortality wrecked really and most of your business can get that and. So i think its a great. But you have to say is i mean people met and say. I want to go back to some joe how he rest they can call psychologists who are at the very much more of a segment talking about new zealand even i think there will be a problem of being kind of afraid that star identifies one thing is essentially 76. 00 while much of the rest of the world is anxious about catching the virus itself or protecting their loved ones from catching it its not so much the presence of cover 19 that presents new zealand with its greatest challenge but the absence of it how do we find our place in this new world when actually we are one of the outliers who have been successful at eliminating coverage 19 perhaps the anxiety that goes along with the uncertainty of what the world is going to look like and our place in it and the economic pressures that may follow these presents the biggest challenge to new zealand as we go through the next few months and perhaps years when we are so far away not only geographically but also in terms of the experience that much of the rest of the world is going through right now michael what a problem to have you could be lonely out there in easy ending your coverage for you going to do you. Where are we hoping to connect quite soon with the other countries that were so nice to the cyrus pretty soon are we in much of the eastern hemisphere Mainland China and taiwan really succeeded incredibly well the nam potentially r. E. C. Australia theres quite a few Pacific Islands basically left of the group ruge the new head of ours and we will see him shortly so i dont think we have a strong sense of loneliness or. Like a vacant thank you so much for joining us we really appreciate your time here on the string took about museums and its covert 19 successful strategy we go now to viet nam population in 1000000000 number of deaths from covert 19 registered deaths. I think it was a great example of the notion that you dont need to be rich country to be a pandemic as. Well a pair and focused a week after the 1st case was confirmed in late january the country clear and had to have emergency home on her and a virus epidemic the same time he was already in conversation with experts and then factors to develop its own testing can i think is of interest to you to know that the country didnt matter really excel in dealing with the coming 18. If experiences dealing with sars in 2003 and nabby and influenza after that which allows it to invest in Public Housing in such an early action. In a so good to have you here it seems as if the experience that field had with Infectious Diseases put in a good plates for tackling covert 19 whats your take. Thing a good thing so what if the question for me and thank you again for having me so early of in the hands of rather successful response to cope you know which has been recognized by the american c. D. C. Has been a combination of top down policy action and perhaps more importantly bottom up efforts by an arab people and celeste that in turn. So top down policy action was very swift aggressive and communicative we shut all schools back in january before everyone else we started to quarantine inbound travelers in factory in mount traffic all together in my. Country lockdown from late march to a broke military wasnt all the population received constant communication from the governments of virus and precautionary measures to take and i would like to emphasize that we have been very strict in isolating confirmed cases if you were tested positive you are set up well sensibly and anyone you came into contact with would also get tested and of this in and say around where to live. Nobody can and probably tomorrow everyone will be provided. I mean were talking really strict not like if you feel like if you want to quarantine were you taken away and then locked up until you were better. Not violently taken away but so do we take it away we yes theyre taken away and we dont have a diplomatic c. H. Embodied i mean youve youve got to have a 19 you need to be somewhere where youre not infecting other people that that was the situation. Yes that was the idea behind it not so questions on you tube and for these going to men benjamin says i want to know the status of covert 19 in vietnam what is the status of covert 1000 and where where are you right now. So far so far we have 353 of 355 cases up to this day and 0 there. And then look i mean one thing one thing that i that i want to you know even more emphasize the fact that we have been very strict the bottom up efforts by the ordinary citizen. You know we played against iraq by you did with your org for me to win in bringing 7 because similarly to ask about that 7 vi guest says and hes a new chief high 7 how do the people in these countries how do people in fit man especially and respond to lockdown measures and how did the government ensure social justice poppen saying that food and shelter to those people who had no access and we are asking about what you are about to say is how to react to these these very strict knockouts. Oh good question so the long story short is that howie we voluntarily contributed to the fight we stayed inside we wore masks when going out businesses provided Hand Sanitizer if a customers to disdain i might attack and some businesses even checked customers temperature before thats in a man and to top it out you know the issue of whether we will show any resistance where they are or what we thought about human rights so we the vietnamese people framed the virus as a life and death or rather life or death matter we did not have this strange idio logical debate and protest against Wearing Masks against staying at home and not going to our show you know like in some places in the us and i dont know i think we need to be straightforward there with people because this is perhaps the political situation in vietnam actually helped in terms of locking down 190 eliminating it because it is a communist party system so if you do not do what the party says you will be in trouble for instance if you didnt a deal to some of the regulations you could be put in prison but what youre saying is that this political system really helped fight havoc 90. It is what so what the points that are trying to make it say yes we we have swift as a response and well obviously dont came from our political system you know we have a one party system but thats not the point i am trying to make the point i am trying to make is that the people themselves thought of this as an important issue you know we framed we we have never framed it as a personal liberty thing i mean look we are we are very poor and we have been invaded time and time again for thousands of years so then you got this sense of collective good. It in your collective unconsciousness so youre trying to a man at least at a family level so you try to protect the people you love so let me tell you laurie chits and i share some ok weve got one minute left at the story so tell the story is a crock and theres a want to share some pictures of beautiful pictures you shared with me so it is tell me whats happening in this picture. That was one of the crass routes in a waiter and thats making my point so he is a famous specter inside and he came up with the idea of you know making brett from fruits in order to help farmers who could not export their produce during demick and not know what its all in so one must reach. This picture showing you know the michigan is coming back from uproar going into warranty and you can see that the military you know people in blue. Clothing the military was mobilized to help with the fight. This is a so remarkable story thats coming from vietnam i really appreciate you sharing your insight and how you were involved in putting that strategy together i think every country however well theyve done with 9000 has some anxiety earlier we spoke to a legal sangley is interesting business and hes a little bit anxious lets have a listen to zanny from vienna. So far. Nearly 80 days after last is. Weve got any new carries our incoming of the. Many we know music people decide to leave their match at home but Upcoming International visit our. Seems to my dreams twice. Tran is a research hes been very involved in advising the vietnamese government was a covert 1000 strategy no body has died according to official records from covert 19 if it definitely qualifies as a Success Story thank you so much for being on the string to totally appreciate it. Thank you. So we move on to iceland the population is just over 300000 and theyve had officially recognized deaths tenure from covert 90. What i said and has done well in response to the current 1000. 00 pandemic is to respond quickly and get everybody tested and Institute Social distancing guidelines as an Immediate Impact on it reducing the rate of infection and flattening the care however its been very challenging to get everybody to a by these guidelines as its summer time and people want to go out and meet one another. With the summer to come july 1st saw us opening the country to a certain select nonchanging countries and the weeks and months to come will show whether or not we need to adjust our plan of action or not set out and that is how you got to. And that is where you are now but the question is how did you get when did still how the 1000 strategy starts for us and. Started. Soon after we saw. Reports criminal trial on problems. Or problems arent we were definitely reminded of our experience with regards to source and marsh mercy. So we initiated our influence up and demick guidelines and brought the country to alert rather quickly we started testing early and were fortunate enough that to catch these 1st few cases that cropped up. And that helped. You even knowing i sent the 1st person who came into the country with covert 900 thats how. Yes still we are finding out now that there were all the routes of transmission we had cases when we were looking at northern italy and the region that we know now that during that time in cases came to the country from the u. K. Probably the the u. S. We know that now because we have sequenced the genome of the virus that these people had so we know that the virus was coming to the country from multiple directions but still these were the 1st few cases so be it he caught a large portion of them and that definitely helped us in the long run. I want to see his agents when he who came out of the time and help with the 19 and i think hes a very well known figure he set the photograph of me tell everybody who is in this picture. Yes so this is save the limits on the g. S. T. Former director of health in iceland Infectious Disease doctor a retired what is now a professor at the University Hospital. And this great gentleman. Came out to help when we had our search in cases. This was during the time where the situation was quite dire we were looking at an exponential curve in cases so it was an all hands on deck situation we could all right a request for retired Health Care Professionals to come out and help us help at the University Hospital was one of them and i find this photo quite quite. Quite fantastic because you can see it in his face that this is a serious situation and it most certainly was yeah i mean if we could sum up how i sensed be the current virus it was i said how to tell people occurring as i said its like im just being revived probably tasting and all the testing with the public to private funds as well yes definitely. Of course we were approached by a. A genetic Science Company in iceland called the quote they they saw the problem that we were dealing with the main problem was that we didnt really know how likely the virus has spread in the community when we started finding the positive cases we didnt know where we were in the everything the logical curves and we needed to know that. So we could focus our measures so difficult came in and they will in more than 2 to screen asymptomatic ranging an individual or individuals who had not been exposed to the virus missiles they initiate that Screening Program it was coordinated by that you 15 yalit used and the director of health and they screened a large portion of the population in iceland we found out that the virus was certainly present in the community but it was not spreading rapidly between people so we knew at that time where we were exactly in the outbreak and based on that information we could improve our modeling and we could also focus our message more more. More accurately. In every country that weve heard about so far hes even and. Now i stand as very unusual circumstances which made them find to be out to be coronavirus if you could sum up what it was the ice and how does that put in a good position to kind of obvious what would you say. Well you just have to look at the geography we are a small island nation our population is much in us there are short communication. We have highly educated Health Care Professionals we have. Contested people who are in charge so all these aspects come together and not least we have really only one major point of entry to the country so i