Staff of the international health quarantine centre of Quang Ninh province examine the body temperature of people from China via a thermal scanner at Mong Cai Border Gate (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy
Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam chaired an urgent meeting in Hanoi on January 24 in
response to the acute respiratory disease caused by a (nCoV)
strain.
The Deputy PM noted the nCoV epidemic
first appeared in of China in December 2019. Vietnam is one of the
countries with a high risk of being affected by this disease as it has a long
borderline, frequent exchanges and large trading with China, especially during
the Lunar New Year holiday when the travel demand surges.
The two cases tested
positive for nCoV in the southern region are just initial results since the
World Health Organisation (WHO) said this is a new disease for which there hasn’t
been a standard testing method. Some other suspected cases are being kept under
close monitoring, their samples are being tested and results will be announced
as soon as they are available, he said.
Dam cited international experts as warning that nCoV has
limited human-to-human transmission, but as Vietnam shares a long borderline
with China, a higher level warning should be issued for the country.
He ordered the immediate implementation of health declaration
at all points of entry, especially for people from Wuhan.
agencies to strictly manage persons with fever and advise people against going
to nCoV-affected areas, including Wuhan and Huanggang cities of China, and countries and territories reporting infection cases.
The Deputy PM said
the Health Ministry’s emergency operations centre has been activated to prevent
nCoV from spreading. He also urged strong actions to protect health workers
from being infected with the virus from patients and provide sufficient and
precise information for the public.
Kidong Park, a WHO
representative in Vietnam, said people should not worry too much about the
disease. However, those with coughing and fever symptoms should proactively come
to medical establishments to have examinations.
The WHO will
coordinate closely with the Government and the Health Ministry of Vietnam to prevent
and control the nCoV-caused disease, he added.
Earlier, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc sent a note to ministries,
sectors and localities, requesting them to redouble efforts in the face of the
disease.
The
two cases tested positive for in Vietnam are Chinese citizens who have been quarantined at Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray
Hospital.
Li Ding, 66, went to Hanoi from Wuhan on
January 13, before going to Nha Trang city in central Khanh Hoa province, said
Dr Nguyen Ngoc Sang of the Cho Ray Hospital’s Department of Tropical Diseases.
His son Li Zichao, 28, who has lived in the Mekong Delta
province of Long An near HCM City for the past four months, went to visit him
in Nha Trang. Both of them then traveled to HCM City and Long An, said Sang.
The father got fever on January 17, while the son had similar
symptoms January 20. Both were admitted to the Cho Ray Hospital on January 22
night.
A pneumonia outbreak, caused by a new strain of the coronavirus family that caused SARS and MERS, first surfaced in Wuhan city, China last December.
The disease has spread to many other countries and territories. China’s National Health Commission has confirmed 541 infection cases and 17 deaths as of January 23.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that the new coronavirus could be contagious between humans.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has warned people to keep their distance from people with acute respiratory infections and wear a mask when talking to them. Equipment to monitor arriving passengers’ body temperature have been installed at airports in Hanoi, HCM City, Da Nang and Cam Ranh in central Vietnam./.
Source: VietnamPlus
