Planes must be sprayed with mosquitoes before arriving at Tan Son Nhat.

To prevent Zika cases from entering Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has asked airlines to proactively spray mosquito-killing chemicals on planes before arriving at Tan Son Nhat.

In an urgent announcement just issued, the Department requested the International Health Quarantine Center to develop a plan to prevent and control the Zika virus.

Call on the whole people to kill mosquitoes

According to the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, airlines must spray insecticide on flights departing from Zika-affected areas or on planes with passengers from epidemic areas before entering Vietnam.

When detecting passengers coming from epidemic areas suspected of being infected, Tan Son Nhat International Airport coordinated with the 115 emergency center, the City Preventive Medicine Center, and the Health Communication and Education Center to take the passengers to the Tropical Hospital for examination and treatment.

In addition, the health sector also monitors the implementation of disinfection on aircraft and in the Tan Son Nhat area to limit infection. Communicate to passengers on how to recognize and prevent infection caused by the Zika virus.

Spraying insecticide in Ho Chi Minh City.

After the Ministry of Health announced two positive cases of Zika virus, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control sprayed insecticide around the area where the patients were located within a 200 meter radius.

Accordingly, this center sent staff and mosquito spraying equipment to the PetroVietnam building (Le Duan Street, District 1), where the female patient who tested positive for Zika virus was working. Medical staff sprayed pesticides in the basement, the building's grounds, and Le Duan and Nguyen Binh Khiem streets (District 1).

District 2 Preventive Medicine Center also sprayed insecticide within a 200 meter radius around the female patient's house in Thanh My Loi ward, District 2.

Faced with the high risk of Zika virus circulating in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Nguyen Tan Binh - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health called on all levels of government, offices, businesses and people to participate vigorously in the work of eliminating mosquitoes and larvae. "It is necessary to strengthen surveillance to prevent the virus from spreading to the community," Mr. Binh emphasized.

Da Nang plans to respond to Zika

On the morning of April 6, the leader of the Da Nang Department of Health said that Da Nang is the gateway to the region with its seaport and international airport, so it welcomes thousands of international tourists every day. Along with that, the dengue fever situation in the area is appearing, so the Da Nang health sector has raised the epidemic warning to level 2.

Hospitals in Da Nang have prepared facilities, equipment, human resources, etc. to receive and treat patients showing signs of Zika virus infection.

At Da Nang Hospital, a command board to respond to and receive patients infected with Zika virus has been established, including the hospital director, deputy directors and 2 epidemic prevention teams ready to be mobilized.

The first floor of the Tropical Medicine Department of Da Nang Hospital is arranged to receive patients with a capacity of 30 beds. "In case the number of patients increases, this entire department will be used for care and treatment," informed a representative of the leadership of Da Nang Hospital.

The Da Nang Department of Health has directed the City's International Health Quarantine Center to strengthen monitoring and body temperature checks for domestic and foreign tourists at Da Nang and Tien Sa International Airports.

According to Dr. Ton That Thanh, Director of the Da Nang Center for Preventive Medicine, the number of tourists staying and relaxing in the locality is currently very large. Dengue fever in the area is also at a high level, with an average of 40-50 patients/week.

"We have directed the unit's officers and staff to strengthen epidemic surveillance in tourist areas, places where foreign guests often stay, residential areas, especially for patients with dengue fever," said Dr. Thanh.

The leader also added that the Ministry of Health has agreed to let the Da Nang health sector take the initiative to conduct initial tests to diagnose the Zika virus instead of sending samples for testing as before. "This work will help detect Zika virus patients early so that timely prevention and control measures can be taken to avoid spreading to the community," Mr. Thanh informed.

In recent days, the Da Nang health sector has also stepped up propaganda work so that people can actively kill mosquito larvae; train and propagate for grassroots health workers to detect early symptoms of fever caused by Zika virus; take samples for testing of suspected cases to screen and detect the epidemic early to contain the epidemic.

According to Zing