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City records spike in dengue fever cases
A total of 430 cases had been reported as of Tuesday last week, while 183 new cases were recorded by Sunday. No deaths have been reported.
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In February and March, all areas throughout Jakarta will be under a dengue fever alert. (Shutterstock.com/PongMoji)
J
akarta has recorded a spike in dengue fever cases, with 613 new cases recorded within almost one month, as the capital enters a fever extraordinary occurrence (KLB) alert period.
A total of 430 cases had been reported as of Tuesday last week, while 183 new cases were recorded by Sunday. No deaths have been reported.
Jakarta Health Agency head Widyastuti told a press briefing on Monday that, unlike previous years when the cases were evenly distributed, a spike in dengue fever cases had occurred in South Jakarta, East Jakarta and West Jakarta.
“[As of Sunday] 231 cases had been recorded in South Jakarta, 169 in East Jakarta and 153 in West Jakarta. Meanwhile, a relatively lower number of cases, 37, had been reported in North Jakarta and 23 in Central Jakarta,” she said, adding that no cases had been reported in Thousand Islands regency.
“The occurrence of cases has not been evenly distributed. Five districts have the highest incident rate,” she added.
The five districts are Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, which has an incident rate of 19.27 per 100,0000; Kalideres, West Jakarta, 16.94; Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, 16.54; and Pasar Rebo, 13.93, and Cipayung, 13.57, both in East Jakarta.
The agency has announced a dengue fever alert period until March, prompting the city administration to step up measures to prevent an outbreak in the capital.
The agency, in cooperation with the Meteorology and Climate Agency (BMKG), has developed a climate-based prediction model for the risk of dengue fever, which can be accessed via dbd.bmkg.go.id.
Even though the city has roughly 30,000 jumantik (mosquito larvae controllers) to control the vectors of dengue fever, Widyastuti emphasized that each household had to have their own jumantik.
“Every family member needs to be a jumantik to ensure the house is free from jentik [mosquitos],” she said.
Last year, the Jakarta Health Agency recorded 2,947 dengue fever cases with two deaths, down from 3,362 cases and one death in 2017.
The highest number of cases was recorded in 2016 with 20,432 cases and 14 deaths.
