International passengers with monkeypox symptoms will be isolated and sent to the hospitals from Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport, said Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Vu Cao Cuong after paying an inspection visit to the airport on October 5.

He said the arrival area and the quarantine zone at the airport meet the demand for quarantining monkeypox-suspected cases. "In the medical quarantine zone, there are isolation rooms for suspected cases that are fully equipped with temperature monitors, and where medical personnel are on duty days and nights," Cuong said.

Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Vu Cao Cuong checks the emergency medicine cabinet at the medical quarantine area. Photo: The Hanoi Times

In addition, to reinforce communication to passengers about monkeypox, billboards are hung and communication leaflets for epidemic prevention instructions are distributed in the medical quarantine zone, the deputy director added.

For his part, Nguyen Hai Nam, head of the Department of International Health Quarantine under the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC), said that any member of the flight crew or passengers suspected of carrying monkey pox would be isolated immediately.

"In addition, we will screen for any symptoms of monkeypox, the suspect will be isolated and then transferred to the hospital for monitoring and treatment. We also list people who have been in close contact with the patient and disinfect the area the patient has visited," Nam said.

However, to be proactive and ready to respond when a case of monkeypox occurs, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Health Vu Cao Cuong suggested that in the international medical quarantine area, it is necessary to distribute more leaflets and hang more communication boards on monkeypox epidemic prevention.

"Relevant units should check the medical equipment, consumable supplies and several emergency drugs needed to respond whenever there is a suspected case of monkeypox. In addition, the hotline should operate smoothly to receive reports of suspected cases. The international medical quarantine area will closely cooperate with airlines and flights to detect and treat monkeypox cases early," Cuong stressed.