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	Dr Amnuay Gajeena Wednesday said he issued the instruction during Tuesday&rsquo;s meeting of the 12 directors of the Office of Disease Prevention and Control (ODPC) and all bureau directors under the DDC.&nbsp;</div>
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	He said the Public Health Minister had given a directive for all ministerial agencies to carry out surveillance, prevention and control of the Zika epidemic at the highest level.&nbsp;</div>
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	This includes strengthening surveillance and laboratory investigations of the Zika epidemic and the behaviour of the mosquitoes that are known to carry the disease. The activation of EOCs to the Level 2 response was to ensure that those measures would be effective.&nbsp;</div>
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	Amnuay said all 12 ODPC bureau directors would become incidence commanders in regional offices, while at least 10 per cent of ODPC staff would be recruited to operate in the EOCs.&nbsp;</div>
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	All units and staff under the EOCs would work as specified in their incidence action plans.&nbsp;</div>

Nationwide effort to combat Zika virus steps up a level

The chief of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) has instructed all 12 Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) around the country to scale up their response from Level 1 to Level 2 to contain the Zika virus outbreak.