The Ministry of Health requests close monitoring of people entering the country from Africa.

The Ministry of Health has just sent an urgent letter to the Chairpersons of the People's Committees of provinces and cities regarding strengthening measures to prevent and control the Ebola virus disease, as the situation continues to escalate and become more complex.

Checking passengers' body temperature at border crossings. Source: VNA

According to the World Health Organization, as of October 14th, there were 8,471 confirmed cases of Ebola (4,076 deaths) and 426 healthcare workers infected (241 deaths).

In particular, over the past three weeks, the number of new cases and deaths has nearly doubled compared to before. Ebola has now spread to countries outside of Africa.

In the US and Spain, each country reported one case of a healthcare worker contracting the disease from a patient who had traveled from a country experiencing an outbreak.

To strengthen the prevention and control of Ebola virus disease and to continue implementing Prime Minister's Directive No. 1392/CĐ-TTg dated August 9, 2014, the Ministry of Health requests the Chairpersons of the People's Committees of provinces and cities to direct the Departments of Health to closely monitor people entering the country from African epidemic countries according to Situation 1 (when no cases have been recorded); and to be ready to respond to Situation 2 (when imported cases appear).

Upon detecting suspected cases of Ebola virus disease, local authorities must fully and correctly implement the surveillance and handling procedures as outlined in the Ministry of Health's Ebola Virus Disease Surveillance Guidelines.

Healthcare facilities need to strengthen hospital infection control measures and continue to closely monitor the health status of individuals who have entered the province or city from countries affected by the Ebola virus outbreak and have been residing there for the past 21 days.

The Ministry of Health also requires medical facilities to fully equip medical staff with personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of disease to medical staff and other patients in the hospital; to strengthen epidemic control teams and mobile emergency teams, ready to perform duties when necessary, and to organize permanent epidemic control teams as prescribed.

In addition, these units need to prepare all necessary equipment, facilities, medicines, chemicals, and isolation areas so that they can immediately implement disease prevention and control measures when the first case is detected.

According to Vietnam+