Ho Chi Minh City announces Zika outbreak at commune levels

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has announced the Zika virus outbreak at the commune and ward levels, after a case was reported in the locality on April 5.

Spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes at the building where the Zika patient works in Ho Chi Minh City (Source: VNA)

At Thanh My Loi ward in District 2 a 33-year-old pregnant woman tested positive for the virus. The People’s Committee requested the municipal Health Department and relevant departments and sectors to carry out preventive measures in line with the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases.

They were also asked to keep a close watch on disease developments, intensify environmental sanitation activities and kill mosquito larvae in residential areas in order to prevent new outbreaks from occurring.

Another case of Zika was recorded in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

Some 61 countries and territories have recorded cases so far. Zika is mainly transmitted through the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever.

The virus has been linked to microcephaly, a condition that causes babies to be born with unusually small heads, and in the vast majority of cases, brain damage.

Currently there is no vaccine or specific medicine to treat the disease.-