The Ministry of Health (MoH) has issued an action plan to guard against a strain of avian flu virus H7N9 which is spreading across neighbouring China.
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The Ministry of Health (MoH) has issued an action plan to guard against a strain of avian flu virus H7N9 which is spreading across neighbouring China.
This was announced at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention and Control in Hanoi on January 13.
Accordingly, relevant agencies have been asked to work hand in hand in diagnosing, treating and preventing the deadly virus, while strictly monitoring the epidemic in both poultry and humans.
MoH has also established a network to receive, treat and isolate people suspected of having the virus aiming to control the dangerous and emerging infectious disease in central hospitals.
Quarantine units in border areas have been urged to strictly monitor people traveling from epidemic-hit regions while using remote body temperature measuring machines to detect patients.
Director of the MoH Preventive Medicine Department Tran Dac Phu predicted there is a high risk of the H7N9 virus entering Vietnam, since the epidemic is developing in a complex fashion, not only on the Chinese mainland but also in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The cold weather in winter and the increasing number of tourists and traders crossing the border during the Lunar New Year holidays make it easier for the flu to spread farther, Phu added.
By January 13, as many as 168 cases of H7N9 flu have been recorded worldwide, with 164 cases in China, including 51 deaths.
The epidemic is likely to spread throughout China’s southern provinces bordering Vietnam.
(Source:VOV)
