Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung: Resolutely not to cause bird flu outbreak

Facing the situation of bird flu in the direction of complicated developments, on 8/8, in Hanoi, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung chaired the meeting with the National Steering Committee for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control. to implement urgent measures for epidemic prevention.

(Photo: HTV)

According to a report by the Ministry of Health, the current situation of influenza A H5N1 in poultry and human flu in the world is complicated. Avian influenza continues to spread in many countries across continents, especially relapse in some Southeast Asian countries such as Laos, Thailand and Indonesia.

The number of people infected with influenza A H5N1 continues to be recognized in countries (up to now, human influenza A has been recorded in 10 countries around the world, with 232 cases, of which 134 deaths), Vietnam is the only country so far no more cases of people infected with influenza A H5N1 since the beginning of 2006 until now.

The World Health Organization has warned of the risk of mutation of influenza A (H5N1) virus that can be transmitted from human to human and the likelihood of a very high outbreak in winter-spring in late 2006 and early 2007.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also said that although Vietnam has controlled bird flu and human influenza in the past 9 months, the risk of outbreaks is huge due to the import and purchase situation. Selling and transporting poultry and poultry products at border gates has not been strictly controlled , the sale and purchase of poultry slaughter does not guarantee that the regulations are still ongoing in some localities.

The last 6 months of the year is the time when the weather changes to cold, creating conditions for the virus to survive and waiting for opportunities to penetrate into poultry flocks, so it is easy to recur avian influenza.

On the other hand, due to the fact that some localities did not take vaccination for the first time in 2006, the percentage of poultry in the vaccination area was low. These are also the reasons for bird flu outbreaks in our country at any time.

Facing this situation, at yesterday's meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung instructed: Resolutely not to make the bird flu outbreak again in our country.

The Prime Minister stressed that ministries, branches and localities strictly implemented drastic measures to prevent and control epidemics, were not subjective, neglected in directing and preventing bird flu. It is necessary to strictly control poultry trade and import.

In the immediate future, to stop importing fresh poultry from countries with epidemics. Good concentration of slaughtering, sanitation, disinfection and sterilization.

In order to proactively prevent bird flu from recurring, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also noted: The key measure in the prevention and control of avian influenza is to promote propagation of epidemics and prevention of avian influenza to improve. Awareness of the people. If the disease recurs, it must take measures to prevent and extinguish completely, not to spread the disease on a large scale.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked related ministries and agencies to coordinate to produce necessary medical equipment such as breathing machines, Tamiflu drugs . to well serve the prevention and control of epidemics and diseases; propagating and guiding treatment regimens down to the grassroots level, urging localities to prevent bird flu. On the Government side, priority will be given to funding for prevention of avian influenza and foot-and-mouth disease in cattle to minimize epidemics that can recur in our country.

On the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also signed a Directive on strengthening the prevention of avian influenza and influenza A (H5N1) in humans.