Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has directed localities nationwide to strengthen measu♔re🍌s to effectively prevent the occurrence and spread of rabies this summer.

Localities are asked to increase communication among the community on the danger and symptoms of rabies as well as preventive measures against the disease, which is transmitted to humans from infected dogs, cats and other animals. Guidance on how to react when bitten by dogs and cats will also be given to people, while animal owners are requested to vaccinate their pets and not let them wander around without a chain and muzzle. The People’s Committees at communes are directed to count the number of dogs and cats in their localities and work with veterinary agencies to hold vaccination programmes for the animals. The Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology reported that last year, 394,000 people were bitten by dogs last year, resulting in 78 deaths in 29 localities. So far this year, 18 people have been killed by rabies in 10 provinces, including Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa and Tay Ninh. Particularly, in Thanh Hoa there were 781 cases of people being bitten, 3 of them were diagnosed with rabies. The reason behind the death toll, was the low vaccination rate among dogs in those localities, and a lack of necessary injections for those who were bitten and infected. According to statistics from across the country, in 2015, there were 9 million pet dogs nationwide. However, only 3.89 million of them received immunisation.-VNA