Vietnam donates $50,000 to WHO for Covid-19 fight

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung made a symbolic handover Friday of the donation to Kidong Park, WHO’s representative in Vietnam , the Foreign Ministry said.

"This contribution from Vietnam aims to mitigate the negative impacts of the global pandemic," the ministry statement said.

Trung thanked the WHO and other United Nations agencies for their support and assistance to the Covid-19 fight in Vietnam, contributing to further deepening the Vietnam-U.N. partnership of the past four decades.

Though Vietnam has itself been negatively impacted in many ways by the pandemic, the government has decided to contribute $50,000 to the WHO fund as part of efforts to help mitigate consequences of the global crisis, Trung said.

Park congratulated Vietnam on successful control of the Covid-19 virus, as evidenced by its recovery rate of more than 80 percent.

Takeshi Kasai, WHO Western Pacific director, had said at a recent regular briefing that Vietnam is staying on top of its coronavirus infection fight as a result of strong leadership by the government and cooperation among its people in helping to contain the spread of the pandemic.

Discipline among its public in following social distancing rules to reduce infections has also helped, Kasai said.

Vietnam has reported no deaths and just 270 cases of the coronavirus, far fewer than most countries in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. Of the 270 patients, 225 have been discharged from hospitals.

The Covid-19 pandemic has reached 210 countries and territories with almost 197,000 reported deaths.

Vietnam has donated over a million antibacterial masks and other medical supplies to countries worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, including Cambodia, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Japan, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S.