Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan sent an urgent oral message to all relevant agencies to tighten all kinds of prevention measures to keep the A/H1N1 flu pandemic out of border despite no case of the flu found in Vietnam since the outbreak of the epidemic.

The call was made in an on-line meeting held on Monday between Vietnam's Minstry of Health and representatives of health authorities and agencies from 63 provinces and cities nationwide to discuss prevention activities.

"We should provide updated information on the virus to residents, ensure early detection of any infection for timely treatment, and maintain round the clock vigilance at all border gates of Vietnam to keep our country safe from the dangerous pandemic which has been hitting about 20 countries and regions in the world," said Huan at the meeting.

Currently, Vietnam has no plan to ban pork imports as there was not enough scientific evidence of the infection mechanism to warrant it. However, if the epidemic develops more seriously, Vietnam may consider banning the import of pork from countries where the outbreak has affected pigs, said Hoang Van Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Nguyen Huy Nga, Director of the Preventive Medicine Department of Ministry of Health said that the basic methods for pandemic prevention were wearing medical masks, washing hands with soap and seeking immediate medical attention if someone returning from an area confirmed to have the disease shows symptoms such as fever, headache and coughing.

However, almost all of the provincial health departments raised their concerns at the meeting that they were lacking vaccines, respiratory machines, medical masks or other treatment facilities.

To ensure medicine provision in case of detection of any case, the Ministry of Health said that it would provide 5,000 Tamiflu pills for each province and organize three training courses aimed at strengthening preventive medicine and treatment nationwide thisweek.

During the recent days, the health ministry increased surveillance of more than 1,500 people entering Vietnam from affected countries and regions but no suspected cases were found.

Although no A/H1N1 cases found in Vietnam since the flu had been continuing spreading throughout the world, there was a high risk of infection with thousands of people entering the country every day, said Vietnamese Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu when he inspected disease prevention work at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology on Sunday.

To help Vietnam in the fight against the pandemic, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention sent the Vietnam's Department of Animal Health kits to test for the A/H1N1 virus among pigs. The kits, which will help quickly detect the virus, are expected to arrive in Vietnam in the next few days.

Regarding the testing ability of Vietnam, a third-grade biological safety testing office of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology has recently been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) to test for the A/H1N1 virus, said institute director Nguyen Tran Hien.

The office, with required standards to test subdivided different strains of any flu virus, could provide results after 48hours of testing, said Le Quynh Mai, head of the testing office.

Vietnam would continue exchanging information with the WHO and want the latter to supply medicine and essential materials to help Vietnam effectively prevent the pandemic, said Trieu.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2009)