Ward and commune-level health stations were told to tighten surveillance with public and private facilities, focusing on suspected cases with encephalitis or acute respiratory symptoms linked to relevant travel or contact history, and to report them immediately to the Hanoi Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

Residents were urged to avoid travel to affected areas, monitor their health for 14 days after returning from outbreak zones and promptly report symptoms including headache, muscle pain, vomiting, sore throat, dizziness, confusion or seizures.

Health authorities told hospitals and clinics to screen all suspected cases for epidemiological risk, prepare isolation areas, medicines and equipment, and train staff in diagnosis, treatment and infection control.

The CDC will strengthen airport screening with professional measures and automated temperature checks, carry out epidemiological investigations, collect samples and swiftly contain any outbreak.

The directive stressed the need for timely and accurate public communication to prevent panic, noting that fruit bats are a known reservoir for the Nipah virus, which has no approved vaccine or specific treatment.