The Guardian runs feature on Vietnamese Covid-19 posters

The paper spoke to several artists who have created posters to motivate the general public to directly participate in the battle against the novel coronavirus in Vietnam.

Artist Le Duc Hiep, who picturised people joining hands with masked medics as valiant soldiers in the fight, used the slogan "to stay at home is to love your country" prominently in his poster. He said he was bothered to see people still gathering and going out to coffee shops and restaurants when the government had told them to stay at home.

"I wanted to make something that can go viral, raise awareness and inspire people to do the right thing," Hiep told The Guardian, adding that he had chosen the propaganda style poster because the Vietnamese people are familiar with it and it always invokes patriotic emotions.

The poster drawn by Le Duc Hiep says: "to stay at home is to love your country." Photo courtesy of Le Duc Hiep.

The Guardian noted that several Vietnamese artists have invoked war-era sentiment in their depictions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pham Trung Ha worked with the Health Ministry and the Vietnam Stamp Company to create two designs for stamps that send "clear messages of solidarity in the fight against Covid-19."

The stamps were released March 31 and will be sold until the end of this year.

73-year-old artist Luu Yen The, who’s fighting cancer, was also featured in The Guardian. He sent two of his designs to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. His posters have since been put up on many streets.

The newspaper informed readers that drawing posters has been The's hobby since the 1960s.

"Such messaging, along with early action and contact tracing helped the nation avoid the levels of suffering seen in Europe and keep cases to mere hundreds," The Guardian said, adding that Vietnam has carried out 88,000 Covid-19 tests and recorded no deaths.

Previously, a Vietnamese public announcement on the Covid-19 in the form of a song was carried by famous comedy show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" aired on March 2. Cover versions of the song, translated into English, were later done by other artists.

As of Friday, Vietnam had discharged 128 of 255 Covid-19 cases recorded so far.