Fr. Peter Hoang Van Loan, SVD
In the middle of 2021, fear spread throughout Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh City, as the country experienced a dramatic upsurge of the Covid-19 pandemic. The people were traumatized by the sound of ambulance sirens howling at all hours of the day and night. Hearses and other vehicles overloaded with coffins lined up for days to reach incinerators.
Lockdowns were implemented at every corner of the city leading many people to escape the metropolis by motorbikes, and on foot for other means of transport were banned. Some health care workers and officials simply stopped going to work or resigned in fear of their personal health. Many Covid-19 patients died because hospitals were understaffed. Fear and anxiety was palpable throughout the city as it wailed for its sick and dying. "What can we do?" Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Nang
