(VOVworld) – The Ministry of Health has organized 9 teams to respond to the flu epidemic in border provinces and cities and provinces that have detected the disease in poultry. The Ministry has also established mobile prevention and emergency teams in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to control the disease in poultry and enhance communications on flu prevention.

Thermometers are installed at Cam Ranh International Airport(photo: ktv.org.vn)

The health sector in Khanh Hoa province has strengthened its avian flu management to ensure the safety of tourists because the province is in its peak travel season. The provincial center for international health quarantine has assigned staff at Cam Ranh airport around the clock to use thermometers to isolate suspected avian flu carriers. Nguyen Hoa Hoi, Director of the Khanh Hoa provincial center for international health quarantine, said: "We give leaflets to passengers arriving from countries with avian flu to tell them that they are in a high-risk group. If they have high temperature, cough, or breathing difficulties, they must immediately call our emergency number for support."

The management board of Ha Vy market, the biggest poultry wholesale market on the outskirts of Hanoi, has tightened poultry trade including strict requirement of product origin. The market has been provided with 2 tons of antiseptics to disinfect kiosks twice a week.

Thanh Hoa province has asked sectors and localities to cooperate in preventing avian flu from spreading to humans. Le Van Luan, Deputy Head of the provincial Veterinary Department, said: "Thanh Hoa province has reinforced the steering board on avian flu prevention and sent 5 working teams to monitor the local situation. We established 5 quarantine stations on national and provincial highways and a rapid reaction team. We allocated 1.5 million doses of vaccines and 2,000 liters of antiseptic to localities. We will ask for more vaccine, chemicals, and tools to quickly deal with possible outbreak."

Nghe An province has stepped up efforts to curb the epidemic. The province delivered 260,000 doses of H5N1 flu vaccines and 1,500 litter of antiseptic to epidemic areas and established rapid reaction teams.