Due to the development of the A/H1N1 flu virus, with 2500 confirmed cases and 44 deaths in 25 countries, HCM City’s municipal government is to enhance preventative measures. 

Personnel at Tan Son Nhat International Airport check passengers’ temperatures to help detect possible case of flu (Photo: SGGP)

District chair people have been asked to keep close watch on those from flu-hit countries and prepare quarantine wards. 
 
HCMC Department of Health (DoH) was ordered to instruct districts and other agencies to carry out measures, as well as provide drugs, chemicals and equipment. Other relevant agencies must coordinate with DoH to fight possibility of an epidemic.

In related news, the director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, Dr. Nguyen Van Chau, said an overseas Vietnamese woman, who arrived on a flight from the U.K. on April 24 via a three day stopover in Hong Kong, had been isolated at the Tropical Disease Center on May 8 after suffering from flu-like symptoms at her house in Tien Giang Province.

The city’s Preventive Health center has implemented supervision systems and quarantine wards in 24 districts.

The Tan Son Nhat International Airport quarantine center has worked with other centers in Hanoi, Da Nang, the southern provinces of Tay Ninh, Long An, Dong Nai, and Ba Ria – Vung Tau to prevent sick passengers coming to the city, according to the airport’s director, Nguyen Van Sau.