Socialist Republic of Vietnam

HA NOI (April 3, 2003) — Despite a World Health Organisation assurance that the deadly atypical pneumonia is well under control in Viet Nam, the Government continues to keep its guard up. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has instructed the setting up of emergency epidemic prevention committees in all provinces and cities.

On Wednesday, he told authorities in all provinces and cities to have sufficient medical facilities on hand to combat any possible spread of the virus.

He instructed personnel at all ports, border gates and international airports to step up surveillance to ensure no new cases entered the country.

The PM’s orders come in the wake of a series of recommendations by the Minister of Health Tran Thi Trung Chien to prevent the rapidly-spreading virus from re-entering Viet Nam. These include the closure of certain border gates and establishment of border quarantines.

Minister Chien said that the ministry, along with the tourism administration and the civil aviation department, would provide training for medical workers and staff of airlines and the tourist sector in areas most vulnerable to the virus.

The National Steering Committee for the Emergency Epidemic Prevention would send an inspection team to the busy border gates of Quang Ninh and Lang Son, which receive most of the Chinese tourists to Viet Nam.

The two provinces are geographically close to China’s Guangdong Province, where the epidemic is believed to have started in November last year. About 792 cases, including 31 deaths, have been reported in the chinese province so far.

The inspection team checked prevention work on Wednesday at Ha Noi’s Noi Bai International Airport.

The director of Viet Nam Civil Aviation Department’s Health Centre, Bach Dang Dong, said that no new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have been discovered so far at the airport.

He said Noi Bai has doubled its quarantine force to detect anyone infected with the fatal disease, though the number of arrivals was down by a half from the usual number of 1,000 a day.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the outbreak of the fatal disease is now well under control in Viet Nam with no new SARS cases identified in the country for over a week despite its swift spread elsewhere in Asia.

The Ministry of Health has stated that the number of patients infected by atypical pneumonia was down to seven, and 32 have been discharged from hospitals.

Four of these seven patients are recovering, ministry officials said. Nineteen others have recovered but remain in hospital and will soon be discharged, as per guidelines issued by WHO and the Ministry.

The Ha Noi-French Hospital now has only one patient in critical condition. — VNS

WHO doctor honoured

Viet Nam’s Health Ministry has conferred its For Health Case Medal posthumously on Dr Carlo Urbani, a WHO expert, for his dedication to the health of the community, according to Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Thuong.

Urbani, who died of SARS last week in Thailand, was the first to realise the unusual nature of the disease, and gave early warning to WHO and the Vietnamese authorities, enabling them to take rapid preventive measures.

Thuong said the Ministry had also recommended to the Government to award the Friendship Medal to the 46-year-old Italian physician. — VNS