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Although Vietnam reported its first case of COVID-19 on January 23, 2020, it reported only a little more than 1,000 cases. This early success has been attributed to several key factors, including a well-developed public health system, a strong central government, and a proactive containment strategy based on comprehensive testing, tracing, and quarantining. Lessons from Vietnam’s successful early detection and containment strategy are worth examining in detail so other countries may apply them to their own responses. Vietnam has taken a targeted approach to test, scaled-up testing in areas with community transmission, and conducted three degrees of contact tracing for each positive case. One of the reasons Vietnam was able to act so quickly is, the country experienced SARS in 2003 and human cases of avian influenza between 2004 and 2010. Therefore, Vietnam had both the experience and infrastructure to take appropriate action.