Vice Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan said on Aug. 26 that more effort is needed to promptly detect any cases of A/H1N1 influenza infection in schools, especially primary schools and kindergartens.

Huan made the remark at a gathering in Hanoi of the National Steering Board on Bird Flu Prevention in Humans given the fact that schools nationwide have been placed on full alert to watch for possible cases of the super-flu as they start the new academic year 10 days from now.

Vietnam should draw a lesson from other countries’ shortcomings in the supervision of the flu in the community, he added.

In a bid to step up early detection of the disease, the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute has conducted reliable A/H1N1 tests and the Ministry of Science and Technology is doing research to produce testing methodologies for the early diagnosis of the A/H1N1 virus. The Ministry of Health has urged the two units to boost their cooperation on the matter.

Vietnam confirmed 84 more cases positive to the A/H1N1 influenza on August 26, raising the total number of cases in the country to 2,226 with two deaths, according to the MoH.

The new cases include 45 in the South, eight in the North and 31 in the central region.

Of the total, 1,252 patients have been released from hospital after treatment. The remaining 972 are under quarantine and being treated. All are in stable condition./.