The assessment was made by a delegation from the Ministry of Health led by Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tien to supervise preventive activities at the Children Hospital No.1 and No.2 and the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases on May 15.

The delegation said that although the number of infectious disease cases in HCM City has increased remarkably, no deaths have been reported so far thanks to effective treatment. At present, the development of diseases is becoming complicated as there is a new viral respiratory disease named Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

The delegation asked HCM City to keep vigilance to cope with the possible pandemic and requested the City's Pasteur Institute to co-ordinate with hospitals to consider possibilities to reduce the age of measles vaccination for children under nine-month. 

It is forecast that HFM cases are likely to increase from last year and there is high risk for a possible epidemics in the future. 

Deputy Minister Tien emphasized that preventive work should be conducted in parallel with activities to stamp out the epidemics and stressed the importance of proper treatment outlines.