Vietnamese authorities and military units have carried out a large-scale joint exercise to practice on necessary procedures to respond to different scenarios of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic in the Southeast Asian country.

The steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and the Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday organized the drill at the Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi Capital High Command, 1st Army Corps, 1st Army Officer School, and several other military units.

The exercise was directed by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, National Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich, and Colonel General Phan Van Giang, Deputy Minister of National Defense and Chief of Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army.

The exercise on a unprecedented scale includes five scenarios based on five levels of severity of the epidemic.

In the most serious scenario, there are more than 30,000 confirmed cases in the country and the virus has spread to several military units.

Speaking at the event, Deputy PM Dam praised the military’s efforts in preventing of the COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam.

“We must not get too comfortable. We will only be safe when the epidemic is completely eradicated,” he remarked.

Through the exercise, competent authorities evaluate the country’s capacity and resources in the prevention of COVID-19, before making necessary adjustments and improvement to the effort.

The novel coronavirus disease has killed 3,202 people and infected over 93,000 globally since it first hit the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health.

Vietnam has so far confirmed 16 cases of the viral infection, including 13 Vietnamese, one Vietnamese American, and two Chinese.

All of them have fully recovered and have been discharged from the hospital.

The country has reported no new infections since February 13.

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