People with chronic diseases should not travel to areas with MERS-CoV outbreaks.

People should limit travel to epidemic areas, especially those with chronic diseases such as diabetes, chronic lung disease, immunodeficiency... to prevent MERS-CoV.

On the evening of June 7, the Department of Preventive Medicine - Ministry of Health announced that, according to the announcement of the World Health Organization, as of June 7, 2015, there were 1,209 cases of MERS-CoV, including 448 deaths in 26 countries: Middle East: 9 countries, America, Europe: 12 countries, Asia: 4 countries including Korea, China, Philippines, Malaysia. In Korea alone, there were 64 cases, with 5 deaths.

Check passengers at the airport.

To proactively prevent the MERS-CoV epidemic, the Ministry of Health strongly recommends that people and the community implement the following measures:

For travelers:

- Limit travel to epidemic areas, especially for people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, chronic lung disease, immunodeficiency... If you have to go, you need to find out information about the epidemic situation at the destination to proactively take measures to prevent infection for yourself; when returning, you must fill out a medical declaration upon entry, self-monitor your health status within 14 days and immediately notify the health authority if you have symptoms of suspected illness;

- People with symptoms of respiratory infection or suspected illness such as fever, cough, difficulty breathing should not travel or go to crowded places;

- Avoid contact with people with acute respiratory diseases. When contact with sick people is necessary, wear a medical mask and keep a distance;

- Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing; preferably with a tissue or handkerchief when coughing or sneezing to reduce the spread of respiratory secretions, then discard or wash the tissue immediately.

General recommendations:

- Maintain personal hygiene, wash hands regularly with soap, avoid touching eyes, nose, mouth;

- Increase ventilation in homes, workplaces, schools, medical facilities... by opening doors and windows, and limiting the use of air conditioning;

- Regularly clean floors, doorknobs and surfaces of household objects with common cleaning agents, such as soap and other common disinfectants;

- Improve health by eating nutritious food, living and resting properly;

- If you see signs of acute respiratory infection, immediately notify the nearest medical facility for timely advice and treatment;

- Regularly update information about MERS-CoV epidemic on website: http://moh.gov.vn; http://vncdc.gov.vn and other official information sources.

The Department of Preventive Medicine also said that the MERS-CoV virus may have originated from bats and then transmitted to camels, which then became the main reservoir of the virus that initially transmitted the disease to humans. The disease can be transmitted from person to person, mainly through direct contact with respiratory secretions in groups of people in close contact with patients.

The incubation period is from 2 to 14 days. Patients have symptoms ranging from mild fever, cough to more severe symptoms such as difficulty breathing, pneumonia, acute respiratory failure, in addition to gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea and can cause organ failure, especially kidney failure, high risk of death; mortality rate from 35% - 40%.

Some people infected with MERS-CoV may have no symptoms or very mild clinical manifestations, making it difficult to detect. To date, there is no specific treatment for the disease and no vaccine to prevent it.

According to Health and Life