There have been over 900 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease in Ho Chi Minh City in the first two months of this year, a 3.6 time increase than over the same period last year, said a representative from the city's Department of Health on Saturday.
In addition, dengue fever, meningitis and diarrhoea have also been on the rise, due to hot weather.
According to the City Preventive Health Care Centre, there were 936 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease, including one fatality, in the first two months of 2012, most victims being young children.
A doctor from Children Hospital No.1 in HCMC said that the numbers of child cases are on the rise.
Doctor Nguyen Dac Tho, Deputy Director of the City Preventive Health Care Centre said that hand-foot-mouth disease may become more pandemic in Vietnam in 2012.
The centre has asked district authorities to step up preventive measures and asked schools to provide student numbers in order to maintain sufficient supplies of chloramines-B, used for sterilisation.
The City Department of Health has also warned that bird flu virus has now re-occurred and that the City had recorded 123 new cases of diarrhoea this week, totalling 1,700 cases since the beginning of the year.
HCMC has now announced the setting up of six inspection teams that will check and manage the spread of diseases in 25 districts in the city.
