Vietnam has had a total of 38 fatalities in over 10,600 A/H1N1 flu cases in 61 provinces and cities nationwide, according to Director of the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Medicine and Environment Nguyen Huy Nga.

Nga was speaking on Nov. 4 at the weekly meeting of the steering committee for A/H1N1 pandemic prevention.

The only two provinces that had not found A/H1N1 flu cases were Bac Kan and Dien Bien.

The latest fatality was a 32-year-old Hanoian who died in HCM City on Nov. 3. His illness began 10 days earlier, with a fever, cough and sore throat. He was hospitalised in Tay Ninh hospital for treatment on Oct. 23 and transferred to the Tropical Diseases Hospital two days later due to his serious condition. He died after 10 days of treatment with Tamiflu due to serious respiratory failure and lung injury.

Previously, the Health Ministry had reported a second A/H1N1 fatality in Hanoi , a 38-year-old man living in Yen Ha ward, Yen Vien district.

Director of the National Hospital for Infectious and Tropical Diseases Nguyen Van Kinh reported that two patients were infected with both the A/H1N1 virus and dengue fever at the same time. The two patients recovered after being treated for the two diseases with Tamiflu and a drip feed.

Kinh also told people to come to the hospital early on if they had a fever or any other possible A/H1N1 flu symptoms.

“There are five high-risk groups, including pregnant woman, the elderly, children under two and people with chronic diseases or chronic flu,” added Kinh.

Regarding the A/H1N1 flu vaccination issue, Director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology Nguyen Tran Hien said that the World Health Organisation had committed to provide A/H1N1 vaccine for 10 percent of the population, accounting for 10 million doses.

“About 1.2 million doses are expected to come to Vietnam by mid December. So about 1.2 million people will first be vaccinated against the A/H1N1 virus,” said Hien./.