China and ASEAN member states, especially Vietnam, have fostered practical cooperation on curbing the spread of Covid-19 and accelerating economic recovery amid the prolonged outbreaks and their devastating impacts on the region as well as the world.
To date, China has provided ASEAN member states, including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, with over 300 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines as well as a great number of emergency medical supplies, and has also sent medical expert teams to help build virus-testing labs and work on vaccine trials with several ASEAN countries, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Vietnam is among ASEAN members hard hit by Covid-19 since last year, especially since the ongoing fourth wave starting in the country on April 27, with many socio-economic activities that have come to a halt for months, or at least have been disrupted from time to time.
The Vietnamese Health Ministry on Monday reported 3,639 local Covid patients, lifting the country’s infection tally since the beginning of the pandemic to 892,579, including 887,797 in the current wave. The ministry also confirmed 65 Covid-19 fatalities, increasing Vietnam’s death toll to 21,738.
Realizing that the Delta variant has created a major public health emergency due to its spread speed and lethality, Vietnam has recently adopted a proactive two-track policy — acquiring sufficient vaccines to inoculate the population to be able to return to normal life and resume economic activity.
However, “One problem Vietnam has confronted throughout this period was acquiring sufficient vaccines to inoculate vulnerable members of society as well as essential workers,” Emeritus Professor Carlyle Thayer from the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defense Force Academy told Xinhua.
That is when the provision of Chinese vaccines and medical equipment at central and local levels has proved their great support. According to the Chinese Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, China has agreed to provide Vietnam with a total of nearly 40 million doses of vaccines, including donated and sold ones this year, and has so far pledged to donate 6.5 million doses of vaccines to Vietnam.