Vietnam is making all-out efforts to prevent the Ebola virus from entering the country, especially through tourists and guest workers who come from or transit via West African countries where Ebola outbreaks are spreading.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on August 12 issued an Ebola prevention plan for the tourism sector. The ministry is also working closely with health care agencies at central and local levels to ensure health for both visitors and tourism workers.

The National Administration of Tourism has asked travel agencies to suspend tours to Ebola-hit countries.

Meanwhile, the Agency for Overseas Labour Management under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, has required labour export companies to raise awareness of the epidemic among guest workers, particularly those working in Ebola-hit areas. The companies are also advised to suspend sending labourers to high-risk regions.

The health departments in localities with international border gates are intensifying health checks of visitors while keeping the community updated on the development and the danger of the disease as well as ways to prevent infection.

Ebola, which is caught by close contact with an infected person through bodily fluids such as sweat, blood and tissue, has killed more than 1,000 people in the current outbreak, spreading from southern Guinea to Liberia , Sierra Leone and then Nigeria , according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

No infection of the virus has been reported in Vietnam so far.-VNA