Vietnam’s health authorities will monitor the body temperature of inbound visitors, especially those from the Middle East, to prevent the spreading of SARS-like corona virus, which has killed more than 90 people worldwide. The virus, called Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), is similar to the one that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which emerged in China in 2002-2003 and killed some 800 people. It was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Although the vast majority of MERS cases have been in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East, the discovery of sporadic cases in Britain, Greece, France, Italy, Malaysia and elsewhere have raised concerns about the potential global spread of the disease by infected airline passengers. So far, 262 people in 12 countries have been confirmed to be infected with MERS and have been reported to the World Health Organization. Of those, 93 have died. Vietnam is coping with the occurrence of many infectious diseases such as measles, chickenpox, hand-foot-mouth disease, and Japanese encephalitis as summer is approaching. (cand.com.vn May 6)
