Dengue prevention efforts to continue

Hanoi (VNA) - The number of dengue patients in the capital city continues to decline, but preventive efforts must continue, said Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung of the Hanoi People’s Committee.

Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai and Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung on September 4 chaired a meeting on dengue fever prevention with the city’s leaders.

Citywide, 861 fewer dengue patients were reported in the last week of August compared to the first week, according to official statistics.

The number of dengue inpatients also dropped to 2,200 per day in the last week of August from 2,500 per day in the week before.

As for the inner city’s Hoang Mai district, which had the highest number of dengue patients in the city since the beginning of this year, only about 360 remained in hospital compared to 468 at the peak of the fever’s season.

Reports from the inner city’s Dong Da district also showed a downward trend in the number of dengue patients in the last three weeks. There were about 190 new dengue patients in the district in the last week of August, a decrease of 94 patients compared to the week before.

Fewer dengue patients were also reported over the last week in the inner city’s districts of Thanh Xuan and Cau Giay, and the outer city’s districts of Ha Dong, Thanh Tri, and Thuong Tin.

All 584 communes and wards of the city’s 30 districts have set up working teams to kill mosquito larvae and supervisory teams to monitor the fever’s progress, according to reports. 
Speaking at the meeting, Chung requested all districts “not to loosen their grip on monitoring the fever despite the reduction in its level of severity”.

[Dengue fever hotbeds under control in Hanoi]

He highlighted the essential measures that must continue to be applied to prevent further spreading of the fever. These include providing citizens with constant updates on the fever’s progress, spraying chemical substances to kill mosquitoes in areas of outbreaks, ensuring the chemicals are high quality and widely accessible for citizens, as well as strengthening hospitals’ dengue treatment capabilities.

Hoang Trung Hai, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, said that he appreciated the active involvement of leaders from the districts and other concerned authorities in dengue prevention. Their efforts had brought demonstrable progress, he said.

“However, since the disease is likely to last until November, there should not be any hesitation in applying preventive measures to make sure it will not surge again,” he said.  

After the meeting, the city’s leaders visited and checked the dengue prevention process at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases and a number of schools in Hai Ba Trung district.

About 24,300 dengue patients have been recorded in the city from the beginning of this year. Seven of them died.

The highest numbers of patients were recorded in the four inner city districts of Hoang Mai (3,756), Dong Da (3,578), Hai Ba Trung (2,164), and Thanh Xuan (2,014).-VNA