The Ministry of Health (MoH) recently issued an action plan inpreparation for a strain of avian flu virus H7N9 which is spreadingacross neighbouring China.

The information was released at ameeting of the National Steering Committee for Bird Flu Prevention andControl in Hanoi on January 13.

Accordingly, relevant agenciesare to work closely together in diagnosing, treating and preventing thedeadly virus, while strictly monitoring the epidemic in both poultry andhumans.

MoH has also set up a network to receive, treat andisolate people suspected of having the virus in order to control thedangerous and emerging infectious disease in central hospitals.

Health quarantine units in border areas have been urged to strictlymonitor people travelling from epidemic-hit regions, while using remotebody temperature measuring machines to detect patients.

Deputy Director of the MoH Preventive Medicine Department Tran Dac Phusaid there is a high risk of the H7N9 virus entering Vietnam, sincethe epidemic is developing in a complex fashion, not only on the Chinesemainland but also in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

There have worryingly been seven recorded cases of the virus in Guangdong province, which borders Vietnam.

The cold weather in winter and the increasing number of tourists andtraders crossing the border during the Lunar New Year holidays make iteasier for the flu to spread farther, Phu added.

By January 13,as many as 168 cases of H7N9 flu have been recorded worldwide, with 164cases in China, including 51 deaths.

The epidemic is likely to spread through China’s southern provinces, which are near the border line with Vietnam.-VNA