The health sector has asked localities to strengthen supervision over Ebola virus at border gates and in the community to promptly apply suitable and effective preventive measures to avoid the intrusion of the virus to Vietnam.

The Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health on May 21 warned the public that the Ebola virus recurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo since early 2018 with complicated developments. The World Health Organisation’s Emergency Committee has held a meeting to deal with the disease. 

The Ministry of Health will continue working closely with the WHO to supervise the disease’s developments. 

According to the WHO, possible preventive measures include strengthening the supervision system, setting up a management system, launching mobile testing, and calling for the engagement of localities’ leaders.

Ebola is a highly infectious disease that spreads through contact with even a small amount of bodily fluid of an infected person. Its early flu-like symptoms are not always easy to detect. 

The current outbreak - the ninth to hit Congo since Ebola was identified in 1976 - involves the same strain of the virus that struck three West African countries in 2013-15 and sparked an international panic. It went on to kill more than 11,300 people in the deadliest ever Ebola epidemic.-VNA