Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has allowed the Ministry of Health to proactively use its standby fund created for countering epidemics in 2014 for preventive measures against Ebola epidemic, which has caused over 3,400 deaths in West Africa so far.

The sum, worth 7.34 billion VND (345,000 USD), will be used to build up communications and technical materials, organise training, drill and quarantine activities, and purchase chemicals and protection gear.

Earlier on September 27, the Hanoi Department of Health held an exercise to prepare medical staff for a possible Ebola outbreak in case the virus enters Vietnam.

Meanwhile, a short training course on preventive measures and responses against Ebola virus was organised in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong from September 22-27.

Local authorities have built action plans to contain the disease in case of its outbreak while keeping a close watch on tourists and Vietnamese guest workers who have returned home from the Ebola-hit areas.

The Ministry of Transport has launched a plan against possible petechial fever caused by Ebola virus with a goal of early detecting infections in the sector, preventing the epidemic from spreading and minimising deaths.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also issued an action plan to prevent the virus, which poses a high risk of entering the country via tourists, and at the same time encouraged Vietnamese people to travel at home.

The Ministry of Public Security affirmed that its clinics have prepared medicine, equipment, isolation areas and workforce in case of any Ebola outbreak.

Ebola can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, organ failure and internal and external bleeding. The earlier the virus is detected and the symptoms are treated, the higher the chance of survival is, according to the World Health Organisation.

The current outbreak of Ebola, which is spread via contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, such as sweat and blood, has taken the lives of 3,439 people out of 7,478 cases across five West African nations -- Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal -- according to the latest WHO tally.

No Ebola infections have been reported in Vietnam so far.-VNA