Vietnam has started to lift the strict movement and social distancing restrictions that still remain in many of its Southeast Asian nations, allowing daily life in major cities to slowly come back to normal.

No provinces in Vietnam are now seen as “highly prone” to the pandemic, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Prime Minister, announced on Wednesday, although some non-essential businesses will remain closed.

The Communist country of 95 million has been an under-reported success story of the pandemic, which has had just 268 coronavirus cases and no deaths.

It has managed to keep the virus under control despite being less wealthy than other strong Asian performers like South Korea and Taiwan, and its 870-mile porous border with China.

Like its Asian allies, Vietnam’s swift response was based on a robust pandemic response plan that was forged after recent deadly brushes with other high-risk infectious diseases, including SARS and H151.

The Vietnamese strategy focused on a combination of targeted, rigorous contact-tracing and testing to swiftly contain small clusters of Covid-19 before they spread further.