6 recommendations from the Ministry of Health to prevent hand, foot and mouth disease

1. Personal hygiene: Wash hands regularly with soap under running water many times a day (both adults and children), especially before preparing food, before eating, feeding children, before holding children, after going to the toilet, after changing diapers and cleaning children.

2. Food hygiene: Children's food must be nutritious; cooked food and water; eating and drinking utensils must be washed thoroughly before use (preferably soaked in boiling water); use clean water in daily activities; do not feed children; do not let children eat with their hands, suck their fingers, or suck on toys; do not let children share napkins, handkerchiefs, eating and drinking utensils such as cups, bowls, plates, spoons, and toys that have not been sterilized.

3. Clean toys and living areas: Households, kindergartens, and home childcare centers need to regularly clean surfaces and objects that come into daily contact such as toys, learning tools, doorknobs, stair handrails, table tops, chairs, and floors with soap or common detergents.

4. Stool management: Use hygienic toilets, children's stools and waste must be collected, treated and dumped into hygienic toilets.

5. Early detection monitoring: Children must be regularly monitored for their health to promptly detect, isolate, and treat cases of illness, avoiding the spread of disease to other children.

6. Isolate and treat promptly when the disease occurs: Nursery schools, kindergartens, concentrated child care groups and households with children under 6 years old need to proactively monitor the health of children to promptly detect and immediately take them to medical facilities for timely treatment. Sick children must be isolated for at least 10 days from the onset of the disease, and children showing symptoms of the disease must not be allowed to attend class or play with other children.