Prevention and control of infectious diseases during Lunar New Year and festival season 2025

The Ministry of Health has just issued a warning about the increased risk of infectious diseases during the Lunar New Year 2025 and the first festival season of the year.

Prevention and control of infectious diseases during Lunar New Year and festival season 2025

The Ministry of Health has just issued a warning about the increased risk of infectious diseases during the Lunar New Year 2025 and the first festival season of the year.

Currently, the demand for trade, tourism and consumption of food from livestock and poultry will increase during this time, along with the weather in the winter-spring season, creating favorable conditions for pathogens, thereby increasing the risk of infectious diseases, especially diseases transmitted through the respiratory tract, digestive tract and diseases transmitted from animals to humans.

The Ministry of Health warns of an increased risk of infectious diseases during the Lunar New Year 2025 and the early festival season due to increased demand for trade and tourism, as well as the need to consume more food from livestock and poultry.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), many countries in the Northern Hemisphere have now recorded an increase in influenza syndromes (ILI) and acute respiratory infections (ARI).

In China, cases of acute respiratory infections caused by agents such as seasonal influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) are increasing.

According to WHO, seasonal influenza is currently increasing in many countries in Europe, Central America, the Caribbean, West Africa, Central Africa and many Asian countries. In particular, in the US, cases of influenza A(H5) related to poultry and dairy cows continue to be recorded.

In this context, the Vietnam Preventive Medicine Department has contacted the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) to verify the epidemic situation and information shared through international media channels.

According to information from China, HMPV, along with other viruses such as influenza virus and rhovirus, is a major cause of acute respiratory infections. These viruses tend to increase in winter and have the ability to spread rapidly in the community. Symptoms of HMPV are similar to seasonal flu, including cough, fever, and difficulty breathing.

Although there has been no official report from the World Health Organization on the epidemic situation in China, according to the General Department of Preventive Medicine, HMPV infections in China mainly appear in outpatient and emergency hospitals. HMPV can cause severe pneumonia, especially in people with weakened immune systems, including children and the elderly.

The Department of Preventive Medicine of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health has updated the epidemic situation based on reports from China and closely monitored the disease's developments.

In addition to the above concerns, the Ministry of Health warned that the Lunar New Year 2025 and the early festival season will create an increase in trade and tourism, as well as consumption of food from livestock and poultry.

In addition, the cold, dry weather typical of winter and spring creates conditions for respiratory and digestive diseases to spread easily.

In addition, common infectious diseases such as avian influenza, severe pneumonia, dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease, rabies and measles may also increase during the Lunar New Year and New Year festivals.

To cope with this situation, the Ministry of Health has requested the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to strictly implement the work of preventing and controlling infectious diseases, especially during the Lunar New Year and festival season. The Ministry of Health has directed the relevant agencies to implement a number of specific measures to protect public health during this time.

One of the important tasks is to thoroughly grasp and implement the directives of the Secretariat, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health on the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Provinces and cities need to direct functional agencies and local authorities to strengthen their roles and responsibilities in disease prevention and control and mobilize the participation of departments, branches, organizations, and socio-political organizations to effectively implement infectious disease prevention and control and vaccination during the holidays.

The Ministry of Health also requested the Departments of Health to urgently advise on the development and submission to the People's Committees of provinces and cities to issue the Plan for Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases in 2025.

Localities need to allocate funds to proactively implement the plan, while closely monitoring and supervising the situation of infectious diseases in the area.

In particular, respiratory diseases such as severe viral pneumonia and common infectious diseases during the Lunar New Year such as avian influenza, dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease, measles and rabies need attention.

The Ministry of Health also requested provinces and cities to ensure expanded vaccination and implement measles vaccination campaigns to control the disease situation.

In particular, medical facilities need to prepare timely treatment plans for patients, minimizing cases of serious illness and death during the Lunar New Year.

Medical facilities must strictly comply with the process of screening, triaging, and isolating patients, while implementing measures to prevent and control infections and prevent outbreaks in hospitals.

To prevent the disease, localities need to ensure medical quarantine at border gates, and effectively implement regular and event-based surveillance to detect suspected cases early.

Animal disease control also needs to be focused on, especially poultry, to prevent the risk of infection from animals to humans. Authorities need to monitor, detect and promptly handle animal outbreaks, and control the transportation and consumption of poultry and poultry products of unknown origin.

The Ministry of Health also requested media agencies, newspapers and grassroots media systems to increase propaganda activities on infectious disease prevention and control and vaccination.

Communication messages need to aim at changing people's behavior and raising awareness of disease prevention measures, especially for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions.

The Ministry of Health emphasized that the prevention and control of infectious diseases during the Lunar New Year and festival season is extremely important to protect public health, especially in the context of complicated disease developments in weather conditions and increased trade demand.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/phong-chong-benh-truyen-nhiem-dip-tet-nguyen-dan-va-mua-le-hoi-2025-d240959.html