(VOVworld) - Border provinces have been required to disinfect and sterilise all border gates and crossings, as well as cross-border vehicles, to prevent the deadly avian influenza strain A/H7N9 entering Vietnam. This is part of an emergency plan of action the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has just approved in response to virulent strains, especially A/H7N9, that are likely to enter Vietnam and attack humans. Dam Xuan Thanh, Deputy Director of the Animal Health Department, says: “Under the instruction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, our department has established working teams to inspect avian influenza prevention and control in localities and 8 rapid-reaction teams to deal with possible outbreak. Their tasks are to take samples of poultry in high risk areas such as market places and border gates. The samples are taken twice a week instead of once a fortnight as we did previously”.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported H7N9 has yet to cause a clinical disease in poultry as it has not been found through 17,000 samples taken so far. To prevent the deadly strain entering Vietnam, the ministry has banned the transportation and trading of poultry and related products illegally imported into Vietnam across the border.

Deputy Director of the Animal Health Department Dam Xuan Thanh