Saigon has been sick

Saigon in my eyes is the crowded and noisy city, but now in the middle of the most intense Covid-19 wave ever, it has to put off its inherent bustle and put on an unexpectedly silence.

1. From the pride of a country

Last year, Vietnam used to be recognized as one of the successful countries in the fight against Covid-19 (link). To have this achievement, the Vietnamese Government followed a proactive policy “fighting against Covid-19 like fighting against enemies”. Accordingly, all infected people (F0s), whether having severe or mild symptoms, had to be separated from the community and had special medical treatment. The F1s were urgently traced and isolated in concentration areas for at least two weeks. Furthermore, self-isolation was required for F2s and F3s.

Thanks to these strong preventative measures, Vietnam had a very limited number of infection cases and no one passed away due to Covid-19 during the peak of the global pandemic last year. At that time, patients were named by unique code and at the time of being discharged from the hospital, they also received flowers and took photos with their doctors. Their pictures, after that, appeared on news as the pride of the achievements in fighting against the pandemic.

(Photo taken on 7 March 2020. I was still traveling with my friends to the sunny beach of Vung Tau City)

(Photo taken on 25 September 2020 showing crowds gathered and had junk food at Turtle Lake, a popular check-in place in the central of Saigon)

2. From the win of the City

Saigon used to experience a wave of Covid-19 with several cases. At the beginning of April 2020, after recording an increase in infection, the City Authority had to apply Directive 16 to the whole City. Under Directive 16, almost non-essential activities were suspended and people were forced to stay at home within 3 weeks. This was the first time I feel the atmosphere of lockdown due to Covid-19. At the end of April, the infection cases dropped to zero and no life was taken by Covid-19.

(Left: Photos taken on 14 April 2020 at Turtle Lake at the time of first application of Directive 16. Life became slow and peaceful during the lockdown.

Right: Photo taken on 11 May 2020 at Turtle Lake. The place backed to normal condition with crowd after severe Covid-19 wave)

At that time, we won the Covid-19 enemy while the majority of nations in the world were struggling in fighting against this pandemic. Many Vietnamese people became complacent and even laughed at “mass immunity” strategy of developed countries.

(Photo taken on 11 December 2020 at Nguyen Hue Walking Street. At the end of 2020, Saigon still controlled the pandemic well)

3. …to fall apart

Everything got worse after the 30 April Holiday of this year – 2021. The new outbreak of Covid-19 was predicted to occur when thousands of people jostled at train and bus stations to back home. After a 4-day vacation, the first infection cases were detected in the community what made the City Authority immediately applied Directive 15 (a lower measure compared to Directive 16) to the whole City to prevent Covid-19’s spreading.

(Top: Photo taken on 29 April 2021 at West Bus Station. The crowd were waiting for the bus to return to hometown as a long holiday.

Down: Photo taken on 30 April 2021 on the highway to my hometown. The road was filled and stucked by vehicles of people coming to home in southwestern provinces)

However, the number of infection cases continuously increased and Directive 16 was also quickly applied. From the previous experience, Saigoners, including me, optimistically believed that the city would come back to normal life after two weeks. That’s why I planned to do a lot of things in July.

Unfortunately, contrary to everyone's expectations, the number of infection case rose by thousands day by day. Directive 16 was further enhanced with version called Directive 16 "Plus". Under new Directive 16, restaurants were forced to close and take-away services were banned. Infected areas were blocked by ribbons and warning signs, the main roads had a lot of checkpoints. Citizens were only allowed to go to a supermarket for 1 or 2 days per week and had to show the pass paper (granted by the local authority) to go through the checkpoints.

(Photo taken on 8 July 2021 at Vincom Dong Khoi’s food court, one of the busiest malls in Saigon. All restaurants were closed because of the ban of the Authority)

(Ribbons covering public places and warning signs at civil quarters become featured characteristics of Saigon these days)

As a guy who was allowed to go to work during the time Saigon was seriously injured, I could feel the gradual changes of Saigon due to Covid-19. Several months ago, I always complained about traffic jams when I went to work, but in June, my commute was much faster and the only things that could slow me down were 6 checkpoints on the way to my office. No more traffic jams, no more complaints, the silence of streets made me miss the Saigon in the previous days.

(Photo taken on 2 June 2021 at Nguyen Hue Walking Street. The central square of Saigon was empty due to the lockdown order)

Additionally, the silence of familiar roads also haunted me. After 6 pm, Truong Chinh Street, which was famous for terrible traffic jam in many years, suddenly scarily quiet. All the shops along the street had been slammed their doors. On the road, there were only checkpoint-keepers that silently checked driver’s documents and waved their hands as a signal to drivers go without saying a word. The city looked bleak under street lights and sometimes awaked by the sound of ambulances.

(Photo taken on 15 July 2021 on Nguyen Van Troi street at 6:30 PM. The busy street looks so quiet)

At that time, I also realized that no more unique codes were granted to patients, all deaths and infection cases were cumulative to the news at 6 pm of Ministry of Health. Things have gone oppositely far from the expectation of Saigoners.

4. Hope

Looking back to 2 years living with Covid-19 in Saigon, I feel sad for my country. I hope Saigon will recover its dynamic soon so that I can be stuck in the traffic jam again, enjoy the milk coffee with my friends, hang out and have dinners at my favorite restaurants at weekend.

(Sticking in a traffic jam under the rain used to be a terrific obsession of people in Saigon. Now it becomes a wish of many citizens here)

Hope we will be safe!