Amidst Covid-19 pandemic, Indonesia stresses about another health crisis as dengue cases surge

JAKARTA (The Straits Times/ANN): Indonesian authorities are fretted about another health crisis on its hands, dengue hemorrhagic fever, amid the continuous coronavirus pandemic.Between January to June 17, 64,251 dengue hemorrhagic fever cases were reported with the death toll striking 385, according to the Health Ministry.Tourism hotspot Bali island reported the highest number of cases at 8,930, followed by the country’s most populated province of West Java with 6,337 Health Ministry’s director for vector-borne and zoonotic diseases Siti Nadia Tarmizi told The Sunday Times that the 60,000- plus cases tape-recorded this year were lower than 98,000 throughout the very same period last year.But a significant issue this year, she stated, is why the cases have actually continued to climb up though the peak months of March and April for dengue fever had passed.The fatalities reported so far were also half of the figure in the same period a year ago, she included.” We generally see an extremely low number of dengue hemorrhagic fever in June … We’re still trying to figure out why we still tape quite numerous cases in June,” Dr Nadia said, mentioning a number of hundreds of cases in a single day.With lots of parts of the nation alleviating social restrictions, the Health Ministry is motivating operators of office buildings, locations of worship and other places to inspect the existence of larval mosquitoes and to bring out fogging or using larvicide.Indonesia in 2016 reached its all-time high dengue hemorrhagic fever cases and fatalities, with 204,171 cases and 1,598 deaths.The world’s fourth most populous country of about 270 million only records dengue hemorrhagic fever cases, a serious dengue fever marked by bleeding.The number of dengue fever cases, whose patients are typically dealt with at home with recommended drugs, is approximated to be 10 times bigger than the number of the dengue hemorrhagic fever cases, according to Dr Nadia.Vector borne illness professional, Dr Rita Kusriastuti, pointed out the change of weather condition pattern this year, with the transition from the dry season to the monsoon season taking place in May rather of March, contributed to the huge number of cases in June.She likewise noted that the Covid-19 pandemic has actually put pressure on efforts to avoid the dengue hemorrhagic fever.

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