The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome caused by the Corona virus, known as MERS-CoV, has spread to over a dozen countries in the world and killed more than 180 people over the last two years, an official of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health warned on Wednesday.
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Tran Dac Phu, head of the ministry’s Preventive Health Department, made the warning at a meeting held in Hanoi on May 21 about the summer epidemics.
MERS-CoV is a viral respiratory disease that was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012, and the Corona virus is suspected to originate from camels, Phu said.
Citing the latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO), Phu said MERS-CoV has spread to 18 countries in Europe, Asia and America, affecting 614 people and killing 181 of them since that year.
The Corona virus is transmitted from human to human and the mortality is as high as 30 percent, Phu said.
The Philippines and Malaysia, two Southeast Asian countries, have recorded MERS-CoV infections among the people who returned home from their visits to the Middle East, Phu revealed.
Vietnam has yet to detect any people infected with MERS-CoV, but the virus may penetrate into the country in the future, as there are a large number of Vietnamese guest workers in the Middle East, he added.
People returning from countries which are affected by MERS-CoV must be isolated and preventive measures should be taken, health experts advised.
The WHO has warned that the number of infected people may increase in coming days due to the increasing volume of travel between countries.
In order to avoid contracting the virus, people should not directly get exposure to MERS-CoV patients and should maintain personal hygiene as well as keep their houses and workplaces clean at all times.
Anyone with symptoms of the disease, such as fever, coughing and difficult breathing, should go to medical facilities for examinations and treatment, experts said.
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