The Vietnamese Ministry of Health on June 6 issued an action planagainst the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) inan effort to promptly detect and treat infected cases and to prevent anoutbreak of the disease in Vietnam.

The planincludes solutions for three scenarios; one in which no cases have beenreported; in the second one cases have been identified and the third oneis when the disease has begun to spread in a community.

The plan underlines the importance of supervision, especially atborder gates, and personal protection for medical staff.

The plan recommends the health sector establish a network ofhospitals ready to admit and treat patients in accordance to eachscenario, to prevent overloading.

Rules onmedical examination, isolation, treatment and the prevention ofinfection and cross-infection at hospitals must strictly be followed,while the methods of diagnosis and treatment of MERS-Cov must constantlybe reviewed and updated.

According to theministry, prevention measures are extremely necessary because thepossibility of MERS-Cov entering Vietnam and developing into an epidemicis high given that the disease is able to be spread through humancontact.

The MERS-CoV has been spread from theMiddle East to some countries in Asia and no vaccine or medicine hasbeen found to cure the disease.

Good personal hygiene and community publicity campaigns are the major prevention measures at the moment.-VNA