Dengue in Yogya given crisis status
With the increasing number of dengue fever cases in Yogyakarta, the city administration announced Thursday it had become an extraordinary situation requiring immediate measures to combat its spread.
“We’ve decided that dengue has become an extraordinary situation following a field survey, which showed the number of dengue fever patients in the last two months had risen substantially,” said the head of the city’s health office, Choirul Anwar.
The office, he said, is planning to use pesticides (in fogging devices) in all neighborhoods and has requested Rp 150 million to deal with dengue fever.
According to data from the office, the number of dengue fever patients stood at 20 in December, but rose to 66 in January. In the first half of February, 28 people had been diagnosed with dengue.
“Most of the 28 patients are children. And that figure only comes from Wirosaban Hospital. It does not include those being treated at other hospitals,” a pediatrician at Wirosaban Hospital, Sri Aminah, said Thursday. “But we predict even worse in March.”
The Jakarta Post