Vietnam Tightens Monitoring to Prevent Possible MERS-CoV Spread

Vietnam has been taking a series of urgent measures to prevent a possible outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome caused by the Corona virus, known as MERS-CoV, including boosting quarantine among suspected cases of the virus, state media reported. On June 7, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long worked with the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases on preparations to take care of MERS-CoV patients in the capital of Hanoi if health authorities detect any. According to the hospital, two suspicious cases of MERS-CoV were detected as the two have recently traveled to China (one confirmed case last Friday) and South Korea (64 infections and five deaths to date). The two cases showed negative testing result with MERS virus. The hospital was reported to be ready to quarantine itself in case of emergency. It quarantined the second floor when it treated the two suspicious cases of MERS-CoV. Another 52-year-old Vietnamese woman who traveled from Dubai to Tan Son Nhat airport was hospitalized for having manifestations of MERS-CoV. Her sample was diagnosed by Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute with a negative result. As the viral respiratory disease is progressing at a rapid rate and there is no vaccine for it yet, Vietnamese authorities have warned local citizens from traveling to infected countries. The Saigon Times Daily reported on June 7 that about 30% of customers at travel agencies have cancelled their tours to South Korea. Last year, outbound visits to the East Asian nation hit 140,000. In the first five months of this year, over 86,000 Vietnamese have traveled there. Earlier Vietnam began requiring visitors arriving at all airports and border gates across the country to fill out a health declaration. All visitors that travel by air, sea and road to Vietnam from MERS-CoV infected countries within the past 14 days will have to complete the health declaration, which will be provided in three languages namely Vietnamese, English and Korean. Each day, Hanoi welcomes ten flights from South Korea and the Middle East, with about 200 passengers per flight, while HCM City receives about 2,000 South Korean visitors. Since it was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012, there have been a total of 1,184 cases in 26 countries and 442 have died, according to the World Health Organization. (An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security June 8 p6, Thanh Nien – Young People June 8 p5)