A senior health official has scotched rumours concerning the first Ebola virus infection in Vietnam and confirmed that no such cases have been detected in the country.

The information about the first case of the Ebola virus in Vietnam that has caused a growing panic in the community over the past few days is incorrect, said Deputy Minister of Health Tran Dac Phu at a press briefing in Hanoi on August 12.

However, he did not rule out the possibility that travellers, workers and students from epidemic-hit areas in Africa may bring the deadly virus to Vietnam.

Phu said the Ministry of Health has worked closely with relevant ministries and agencies to closely monitor visitors entering Vietnam at all border gates, and in the community to early detect and quarantine suspect cases for treatment.

The ministry has also collaborated closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to update media agencies on the developments of the epidemic globally.

At the press briefing, Masaya Kato, a WHO expert, said there is a low risk of the disease in Vietnam as the deadly virus is transmitted through direct or indirect contact with infected humans and animals.

Vietnam has to date reported no cases of infection and therefore the risk of the disease spreading across the community is rather low, said Kato.  

By August 12 as many as 1,848 people infected with the Ebola virus have been confirmed, including 1,013 deaths. Most of the infections and deaths are reported in the four West African nations: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.

Int'l passengers screened for Ebola at HCM City airport

International passengers are being screened by an infrared body-temperature system at HCM City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Nguyen Van Sau, head of the Centre for International Health Quarantine, said that passengers from West African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak were being asked to fill out health declaration forms.

The Health Department's deputy head, Nguyen Huu Hung, said that the number of passengers from countries affected by the Ebola outbreak were not high.

Vietnam had yet to see anyone who had the Ebola virus, he said.

Hung asked the centre to quarantine passengers suspected of carrying the virus, and to transport them to the city Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

The hospital would take blood samples and send it to the city's Pasteur Institute for testing, he said.

He said the centre would send information each day to the Preventive Medicine Centre in order to carry out surveillance.

The department's Health Education and Communication Centre would also provide brochures on Ebola's symptoms and prevention to the Centre for International Health Quarantine, who would in turn hand out materials to passengers.

Hung told hospitals to prepare medicine and other medical materials in case of an outbreak.

"The public needs to know more about the symptoms and the locations of all hospitals in the city," Hung said.

WHO lauds Vietnam’s Ebola prevention efforts

Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has highly valued Vietnam ’s efforts in preventing Ebola virus from entering the country and affirmed that the country is at low risk of an outbreak of the virus.

At a press briefing to update the development of Ebola virus in Hanoi on August 12, WHO experts said their organisation will join hands with Vietnam to contain the epidemic, which is spreading in a number of African countries.

According Tran Dac Phu, head of the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, Vietnam and other Asian countries have not yet recorded any Ebola-infected cases so far.

As of August 12, 1,848 Ebola cases were recorded, with the death toll rising to 1,013, mostly in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The countries have seen increasing numbers of infected cases and deaths.

In an effort to prevent the disease, the Vietnamese government has directed the Ministry of Health and relevant ministries and sectors to outline specific action plans to deal with the virus if it hits Vietnam.

The ministry has requested all relevant agencies and provincial People’s Committees to strengthen supervision in communities, especially at border gates, in order to quickly detect and isolate people suspected of having the virus or having had contact with it.

Meanwhile, t he Ministry of Information and Communications and people’s committees of provinces and cities must join the Health Ministry in guiding the mass media to swiftly popularise information relating to the virus to the public as well as provide advice on how to protect them from the disease.

Training courses will also be organised to teach medical staff how to quickly respond to the disease if it hits Vietnam.

From August 15, the Ministry will ask people from West African countries hit by the Ebola outbreak to sign a medical declaration before entering Vietnam.

In the coming time, Vietnam ’s health sector will work closely with the WHO, international organisations and relevant countries to keep close watch on the disease, while enhancing sanitation work at hospitals and prepare medicine and equipment.

According to WHO, Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.

It then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.

The disease is a severe acute viral illness often characterised by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

On August 8, the WHO declared a state of international emergency over the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and reported 961 deaths of the disease.