The northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, which shares a land border with China, has successfully controlled swine flu A/H1N1 virus as the provincial General Hospital has not received any new suspected cases since May 3.

Dr. Pham An Hung, Deputy Director of the hospital, said three out of 10 patients treated in the hospital were discharged and the rest are in good condition. They are scheduled to be released in the next three days.

From April 30 to May 3, nearly 40 H1N1-positive cases were reported in Lao Cai, including 34 students from the provincial ethnic minority boarding school.

They all suffered from a high temperature, coughing, headaches and a sore throat before being treated.

The provincial healthcare sector coordinated with localities and schools to take measures to detect any cases and isolate the suspected in order to control the spread of the flu strain.

All localities in the province have established teams to raise people’s awareness of how to prevent bird flu and other summer epidemics.

However, Hung warned that people should remain vigilant as the H1N1 virus and other A-strain viruses such as H5N1 and H7N9 are developing complicatedly and easy to spread.

Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City, a 72-year-old man with H1N1 was reported dead on May 6. This was the first death caused by H1N1 in the city so far this year.

The patient, who lived in District 11, had flu-like symptoms after visiting the Sac forest in Can Gio district. He was sent to 7A Hospital of Military Zone 7 where he was confirmed to be infected with the A/H1N1 virus.-VNA