“WHO congratulates Vietnam in being the first country in the world to contain SARS. Such success can be attributed to a range of factors, but the most important were the speed of action, leadership and transparency shown by the government.”
“We are moving to a phase of greater urgency. There was a lot of awareness about the strong need to work quickly. Vietnamese officials are taking the matter very seriously.”
“To control SARS, it is essential to identify the cases very fast and isolate them properly so they cannot pass the disease onto others, and Vietnam did this very well.”