VietNamNet Bridge – The Health Ministry organised in Hanoi on August 13 a training course on preventive measures against the deadly virus Ebola which is raging through West Africa for health workers in the north.

The course provided the trainees with guidance on how to recognise the disease in case of any suspect people reported along with treatment protocol.

Director of the Central Tropical Hospital Nguyen Van Kinh said the ministry and the Steering Committee for Epidemic Prevention and Control have co-built an action plan preventing the outbreak from entering Vietnam.

Based on the instructions of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC), the Department of Preventive Medicine under the health ministry has activated an emergency operations centre (EOC) to share information on the situation of emergency diseases with domestic and international organisations and individuals.

The health departments in localities having international border gates are intensifying health checks of visitors while keeping the community updated on the latest developments and the danger of the disease as well as ways to avoid getting infected.

The Ministry of Health will hold a similar course for medical staff in the south on August 14.

Ebola, which is caught by close contact with an infected person through bodily fluids such as sweat, blood and tissue, has killed more than 1,000 people in the current outbreak, spreading from southern Guinea to Liberia, Sierra Leone and then Nigeria, according to WHO.

No infection case of the virus has been reported in Vietnam so far.

VNA/VNN