A medical declaration will be applied to people who enter into Vietnamfrom Middle Eastern countries from July 1, according to the Ministry ofHealth.

This move is considered as a practical measure toprevent the spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV)infection, which is developing unpredictably over the world.

Accordingly, the regulations will be implemented at three internationalairports: Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City, Noi Bai in Hanoi and DaNang. Passengers on flights from nine countries in the Middle East -Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait,Lebanon, Jordan and Iran - will be obliged to complete the declarationforms.

The ministry also requires the international healthquarantine centres in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City to distributedeclaration forms in Vietnamese and English to passengers.

Quarantine staff will be responsible for checking declarations andconfirming these. Those who are suspected of suffering from theillness will be isolated immediately and receive preliminary checkupsand tests.

According to the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), by June 16, a total of 701 laboratory-confirmedcases of MERS-CoV infections had been recorded worldwide, and 249 peoplehad died.

The WHO encourages all its member nations tocontinue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections andto carefully review any unusual patterns.

It saidthat infection prevention and control measures are critical inpreventing the possible spread of MERS-CoV in healthcare facilities,which should take appropriate measures to ease the risk of transmissionof the virus from an infected patient to others.-VNA