Vietnam has raised its warning level for the mosquito-borne Zika virus following information that an Australian tourist had been diagnosed with Zika after returning from the Southeast Asian country.

The World Health Organisation (WHO)’s International Health Regulations (IHR) informed Vietnam’s national agency for IHR implementation about the case on Tuesday, said the Vietnamese Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventative Medicine

The ministry said the Australian national showed some symptoms of Zika including high fever, rashes, conjunctivitis and muscle pain on March 8, two days after leaving Vietnam.

The person arrived in Vietnam on February 26 and travelled to southern Ho Chi Minh City and the central provinces of Lam Dong, Khanh Hoa and Binh Thuan.

The identity, age and gender of the patient has not been revealed.

The Ministry of Health has not excluded the possibility that the Australian contracted the virus before arriving in or after leaving Vietnam. It has requested healthcare units to strengthen supervision and take sample tests of all cases which have similar symptoms to Zika virus infection.

According to the WHO, 59 countries and territories have recorded Zika virus.

So far, Vietnam has recorded no case of Zika infection up to this point.

– with other agencies