The PM asked the Ministry of Health and the national steering committee for human influenza prevention and control to closely monitor and effectively respond to the developments of the epidemic.

According to the PM, necessary measures must be employed at border gates to control the movement of travellers and commodities from the affected areas. Any suspected cases must be quarantined for further monitoring, and border gates must be well prepared to receive and treat these patients to ensure the epidemic cannot spread further across the community.

The PM asked the Ministry of Health and the national steering committee to work closely with the World Health Organisation to keep media agencies and the people abreast of the epidemic and preventative measures.

The Ministry of Health said that it has prepared 1,000 respirators, 34 quick-test sets and hundreds of thousands of boxes of chemical disinfectant to be supplied to provinces and cities in case of emergency.

Hanoi braces itself for swine flu

An inspection task force comprising staff from various sectors has been deployed to monitor seven checkpoints in the capital city of Hanoi around the clock to pre-empt any possible swine flu outbreak.

Veterinarians, market controllers, police and even servicemen are present at the sites to supervise the transport of livestock and poultry and sterilize it in a timely fashion, says Nguyen Huy Dang, Vice Director of the Municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Mr Dang says that the city is making a huge effort to quarantine all animals as well as products made from livestock and poultry to prevent epidemics, especially swine flu which has threatened to become a global pandemic.

All cattle and fowl transported to Hanoi must have certificates of their origin and be examined by the local veterinary agency right after being slaughtered.

The Hanoi Veterinary Department has also proposed its counterparts from other cities and provinces exchange information on this issue on a regular basis.

The capital city now has the largest amount of livestock and poultry, including more than 1.6 million pigs and nearly 14 million heads of fowl. This great amount, however, meets only 60 percent of the demand in Hanoi, and the city has to import the rest from adjacent provinces and cities.