Vietnamplus

Indonesia reported 100 dengue fever deaths nationwide from the start of the year to March 9, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) has declared the country’s outbreak of dengue to be a national epidemic in the wake of 146,062 cases recorded from January to July 20 this year.

Mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue are prevalent in Vietnam. The first outbreak of dengue was recorded in Vietnam in 1963. Between 1998 and 2010 more than 1 million cases were reported.

The Department of Health of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho said there have been 213 cases of dengue fever in the city this year and 60 hotspots.

Although the number of dengue fever cases in Vietnam in the first months of this year posted a year-on-year decrease of 41.4 percent, there remain numerous latent risks of the disease to break out, according to the Department of Preventive Medicine.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has asked the city’s departments and localities to intensify efforts to prevent dengue, which is developing complicatedly in the city and the southern region.