The world is facing a crisis now such as we have never seen in our lifetimes. A new and virulent strain of coronavirus, known as Covid-19, has emerged and spread across the globe, and it is forcing us to change how we live and how we do business.

What began as something we watched in horror on the news far away has now spread to every part of our world. As the numbers grow daily exponentially, the coronavirus pandemic can seem overwhelming and daunting. Yet humanity is even now rising to meet the challenge of containing and ending the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vietnam’s Fast Response

So far mercifully the pandemic seems to have been held at bay in Vietnam. There have been some cases reported, but not at a level comparable to its spread in Europe or The USA, despite being close to the epicenter of the outbreak. It may well be luck, but it’s likely the government’s response has been key to this. The government learned lessons from the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak and the 2005 H5N1 pandemic Back in January, as most of the country was still celebrating the Tet holiday, the government began a to plan for a war against the virus, with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc saying “Fighting the epidemic is fighting the enemy”. All flights to and from China were ended at the start of February, and schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have been closed since they broke for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Vietnam As A model 

Early on, the country has come together to fight the spread. For months people have been routinely wearing face masks in public, and using hand sanitizers to avoid picking it up from surfaces. There has been no complacency from the people.

With limited resources for mass testing the general public, Vietnam’s strategy has been based around containing the spread by isolating infected people and identifying those they have come into contact with and isolating them. In February it imposed a 21-day quarantine on a residential area near the Chinese border after people returning from working in China tested positive.

Vietnam’s response has been praised as a model for other countries to approach. The World Health Organization has said Vietnamese has shown “proactiveness and consistency throughout the response”.

The Cost To Business Of Coronavirus

While our concerns now are foremost with the human tragedy unfolding, this pandemic is also going to bring devastation to economies and businesses around the world. The United Nations estimates it may cost the global economy up to two trillion dollars this year. Businesses rely on interactions, and the way we have done business for thousands of years – face to face and in person, is coming under strain. Meetings aren’t being had, appointments are being cancelled, plans shelved. Opportunities that could have been seized are going untaken. And we face months of uncertainty ahead.

Remote Teams As A Solution?

Companies around the world are sending staff home or trying to limit the number of staff to just those needed. Microsoft has advised it’s workers to work from home, as has Google. With today’s tech, having a team working remotely can be as easy as having them in the next room with just a wall between you.

Remote teams are groups of experienced professional developers who work as an integral part of your company, but from a different location, typically one where the costs of hiring staff are considerably cheaper than a company’s home county.

Remote teams can perform all the tasks you would expect from an in house team in your office, but from anywhere in the world. And at a safe distance. Information can be transmitted anywhere around the world by the miracles of fiber optic cables, but the virus can’t.

Obviously, using software developers or 3D artists in a remote location is not the answer to stopping the coronavirus, and we’re not going to try and suggest it is. There is not one single way of answering it. But what we can do is take steps to help contain it, and stop its spread, while scientists find a vaccine. And using remote teams can help with slowing down the amount of human interaction we go through, and can be a way of helping you get through the coming months with the least impact on your business possible.

We don’t want to give you a hard sell here on our services. Now is not the time. But business must continue, and we can offer a safe way to do so in a world where everyone must try to be remote. Stay safe out there.

Drop us a line to solutions@remoteresources.com and we will be more than happy to help.