T

he Depok administration in West Java has warned its residents about dengue fever during this year‘s rainy season.

The Depok Health Agency said residents should practice a healthy lifestyle to avoid the deadly virus, including implementing the 3M strategies to reduce the amount of standing water where mosquitoes breed, namely: mengubur (burying trash), menguras (draining water tubs) and menutup (covering water containers).

“We warn residents of dengue fever at the start of the rainy season every year,” agency head Lies Karmawati was quoted by wartakotalive.com as saying on Friday.

The city saw 650 dengue fever cases from January to March last year, which led to two deaths. The number of dengue fever infections decreased to 249 cases in the same period this year, with four fatalities.

Lies said the dengue virus could be more ferocious this year given the higher number of casualties.

“So we are telling people to stay alert, and we will always take preventive action [...] to stop the spread of the aedes aegypti mosquito,” she said.