The southern province of Binh Duong has declared a Zika epidemic at commune level at Binh Chuan ward of Thuan An township.

Earlier this month, Binh Duong recorded a Zika patient who is a 27-year-old woman living in Thuan An township.

She showed such symptoms as rash, fever, muscle pains and conjunctivitis and tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus Zika. She is now in stable health condition and is under monitoring.

A medical worker handing out leaflets with Zika information to a fruit vendor in Cai Rang floating market in Can Tho city

The provincial People’s Committee has assigned the Director of the province’s Health Department and relevant districts and commune authorities to immediately take preventive measures, intensify the monitoring of situation in the affected locality, and ramp up environmental clean-up and mosquito larvae killing in residential areas.

The Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health ordered the provincial Health Department to closely monitor suspected cases in the area around the patient’s residence.

Check-ups were given to about 300 people living near the infected woman’s house in Thuan An town. Blood samples of those with fever have been sent to the Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute for testing.

A total of 11 Zika virus cases has been confirmed in the country so far, including a four-month-old baby born with suspected Zika-caused microcephaly in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, according to the Health Ministry.

Source: VNA