Quang Ngai takes action against MERS-CoV

Illustrative photo

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee has just asked the provincial health department to consult the PPC on implementing measures to prevent and control the Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) following the Decision No. 1944/QD-BYT dated 03 June 2014 by the Health Ministry. ​

Accordingly, the medical checking measures have to be conducted strictly at Dung Quat and Sa Ky ports in order to supervise the epidemic disease situation in the province.

Health workers in medical centers must be provided training on individual protective measures in order to avoid transmission of infection from patients.

Guidelines on surveillance and prevention of MERS-CoV will be regularly updated through newspapers and television; epidemiological investigations will be conducted to identify sources of exposure and transmission in order to plan and undertake appropriate prevention measures.

Chairman also asked districts and city People’s Committee to conduct communication campaigns to local people to implement preventive measures for MERS-CoV.

According to the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Medicine Department, MERS-CoV is a viral respiratory illness that is caused by Corona virus and has high fatality rate. The disease was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has so far spread to 26 countries with 1,148 patients, 431 of them are dead.

The viral respiratory disease was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The origin of MERS is a new corona virus, a large family of viruses that can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

In humans, the virus can spread from ill people to others, mostly through close contact. Most people who have been confirmed to have MERS-CoV infection have developed severe acute respiratory illness, with symptoms including fever, cough and severe pneumonia that can quickly lead to acute respiratory failure. In addition, some ill people may have symptoms such as diarrhea. This disease can cause organ failure, especially kidney failure, leading to a high risk of mortality.

Approximately 36 percent of reported patients with MERS have died, a statistic from World Health Organization (WHO).

So far, the disease has spread to 26 countries with 1,154 infected cases and 434 deaths.

Viet Nam has not recorded any case of MERS-CoV so far.

Minh Thien

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Quang Ngai takes action against MERS-CoV Related image(s)