The Director of the HCM City Preventive Health Department, Nguyen Tri Dung, said the city is coping with an unseasonably large number of acute infectious diseases, such as dengue fever, measles, mumps, hand-foot-mouth, and seasonal flu.
Since the beginning of 2014, the number of dengue infections has risen by 28% compared to a year earlier, resulting in one fatality in District 8. By March 1, HCM City had 131 cases of chickenpox, representing an astronomical year-on-year increase of 156%, Dung said.
Dung called on local people to take all necessary precautions to ward off catching contagious diseases and pay due attention to personal hygiene and environment sanitation. Suspected cases should be hospitalized immediately for check-up and timely treatment, he added.
He suggested setting up a preventive health network at schools and boosting closer cooperation between local authorities and healthcare agencies to prevent contagious diseases further spreading.
