Chapter 8: COVID-19 in Vietnam: Perception of Urban Workers and Compliance with the National Social Distancing Policies

Using an online survey with about 650 persons living in urban areas in Vietnam and working in different job positions, this chapter aimed to explore how they perceived various measures in containing COVID-19 and how they complied with and evaluated different government policies in controlling the pandemic. In particular, we disaggregated data of the urban workers into gender (male vs. female), job positions (wage-earners vs. other), social insurance participation (mandatory, voluntary, and non-participating), and self-rated health (good vs. bad). We found that the respondents highly appreciated the government with the provided information of COVID-19 and the implemented policies to contain the pandemic. People showed quite good compliance with the national social distancing policies since they went out of their homes mostly for essential work, while very rarely for other reasons or non essential work. We could see various differences in perceptions and compliance levels of the respondents in terms of age, gender, residential area, and health status. Based on those findings along with the existing studies, we recommended that appropriate measures stabilising social and economic activities within the country should be continuously implemented so as to maintain or alternate jobs for people working in severely affected economic sectors. Also, providing accessible and affordable healthcare measures to all people, especially for poor and informal workers who are particularly risky to infectious diseases, should also be given great consideration. Sufficient goods and services for people to meet their basic needs during social distancing should be continuously maintained.