Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Saturday asked local authorities and other concerned agencies to take urgent action to prevent the spread of influenza A (H1N1).

Dung also ordered the health ministry to keep close watch on the elderly, children and the pregnant and ensure that an adequate supply of medicine and essential equipment be available for emergency needs.

The ministry will inspect and monitor preventive efforts nationwide, Dung said.

He also directed the Ministry of Information and Communications as well as the mass media to keep the public updated and aware of ways to prevent and fight the flu.

Dung told the Ministry of Education and Training to temporarily close schools if necessary.

In related news, the health ministry Saturday recorded 35 more H1N1 cases, all in the south, raising the country’s total to 567 with no fatalities.

Local authorities in nine provinces including Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong and Dong Nai have confirmed new infections in students coming home from Ho Chi Minh City’s Ngo Thoi Nhiem and Nguyen Khuyen boarding high schools.

Outbreaks at the schools have prompted the city’s government to order all boarding schools to close and send their students back home.

The Australian-based RMIT University in HCMC also announced this week it would be closed until Friday, August 3 after three Vietnamese students and a foreign lecturer tested positive for H1N1.

Reported by Lien Chau