(VOVworld) - The Ministry of Health convened an emergency meeting of the steering committee for the prevention of the Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus (MERS-CoV) in Hanoi on Tuesday. Delegates discussed ways to prevent the virus from entering Vietnam. Vietnamese migration management agencies reported that approximately 1,000 Korean citizens enter Vietnam a day so the risk of infection was considerable. Around 76,000 Vietnamese people are working and studying in the Republic of Korea and 20,000 others reside in the Middle East. Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long asked all international border gates to require travelers from infected areas to make health declarations to ensure early detection. Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien asked all relevant ministries, agencies, and localities to deploy preventative measures, including advising people not to travel to infected areas.

On Tuesday the Republic of Korea’s government held an emergency meeting with the relevant ministers and vowed to fight this deadly disease. Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Choi Kyung-hwan said that the government would mobilize all available medical resources to calm people’s concerns and fears in the context that 25 cases had been detected so far. Koreans have criticized the government for failing to promptly isolate infected areas.