Dengue fever in Hanoi has dropped since last month, down 95.8 percent against the same period last year, but the risk of contracting the disease is still high, warned Dr Nguyen Nhat Cam, Director of the city’s Disease Control Centre.
Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien has asked hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City to detect, classify and isolate patients with measles, dengue fever or hand-foot-mouth (HFM) disease to avoid cross-contamination.
Hanoi has continued to apply measures to prevent and control the spread of common diseases, especially dengue fever which is currently in its peak season.
Hanoi has reported 955 cases of dengue fever in 261 communes, wards and towns across its 30 districts from the outset of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 96.8 percent.
Bangkok Governor Aswin Khwanmuang on September 17 alerted citizens to dengue fever as the city has recorded nearly 6,000 infections and five fatalities so far this year.
The southern province of Dong Nai has reported the second death from dengue fever, Director of the provincial Preventive Medicine Centre Bach Thai Binh said on September 8.
Residents in the central city of Da Nang should intensify measures against dengue fever as the rainy season has started, encouraging mosquito populations to grow, said a local doctor.
A training workshop was organised for medical workers in the northern province of Ha Nam, about 50km south of Hanoi, on August 17 to improve their skills and capacity to deliver effective dengue prevention at all levels.
Students face several diseases at the beginning of the new school year, such as dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth disease, measles and flu, so epidemic prevention efforts should be strengthened, health experts warned.
The Health Ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine on August 1 warned citizens to apply drastic measures to prevent dengue fever spreading, after a person reportedly died of the disease in Ho Chi Minh recently.
Ho Chi Minh City reported a year-on-year decrease of 36 percent in the number of dengue fever cases in the first seven months of 2018, however recently recording its first death caused by the disease this year.
Although the number of dengue fever cases in Vietnam in the first months of this year posted a year-on-year decrease of 41.4 percent, there remain numerous latent risks of the disease to break out, according to the Department of Preventive Medicine.
About 500 dengue fever cases have been recorded in northeastern Thailand by June 5, according to the Department of Disease Control under the Thai Ministry of Public Health.
The People’s Committees at districts, wards and communes must mobilise all resources and take drastic measures to prevent dengue fever, said Director of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Tan Binh.
As many as 14,079 dengue fever cases with three deaths have been reported so far this year across the country, a drop of 37.2 percent compared to the same period last year.
Mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia – a type of bacteria with the potential to prevent the spread of dengue fever –were released in Vinh Luong commune in the central province of Khanh Hoa’s Nha Trang city on March 6.
The UK Space Agency's International Partnership Programme (IPP) allocates 6 million GBP for Vietnam to build an early warning system of dengue fever outbreaks, said UK Science Minister Sam Gyimah.
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