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Jakarta sees fewer cases of dengue fever
Heavy rain has continued to batter Jakarta in the past couple of weeks as the rainy season continues. This is also the time when dengue-bearing mosquitos are most active.
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Mosquito on human skin. (Shutterstock/File)
The Jakarta Health Agency is expecting fewer cases of the mosquito-borne dengue fever this year.
Heavy rain has continued to batter Jakarta in the past couple of weeks as the rainy season continues. This is also the time when dengue-bearing mosquitos are most active.
According to Jakarta Health Agency head Widyastuti, 434 dengue fever cases have been reported in the capital as of Feb. 17. Of the figure, 120 were found in East Jakarta, 108 cases in South Jakarta, 106 in West Jakarta, 69 cases in North Jakarta, 27 cases in Central Jakarta and four cases in the Thousand Islands.
"Dengue fever is endemic to Jakarta, which means it will always see new cases every year," Widyastuti told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a national meeting between the Health Ministry and local agencies on Wednesday. "We hope to keep the cases under control this year."
The city has been seeing a downward trend in reported dengue fever cases, with a 72.2 percent year-on-year decline from 989 to 275 recorded in January, and a 12.35 percent decline to 2,947 in 2018 from 3,362 in 2017.
The Jakarta administration, in collaboration with the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), provides an early warning system for dengue fever on dbd.bmkg.go.id. The online platform provides estimates for the number of dengue fever cases in each municipality in Jakarta, with rainfall and humidity used as the main predictors.
According to the website, the rate of dengue fever cases was estimated to reach its highest point last Monday in East Jakarta with 5.4 cases per 100,000 people, followed by South Jakarta at 4.8 per 100,000 people, West Jakarta at 4.1 cases, Central Jakarta at 3.6 and North Jakarta at 3.4 cases per 100,000 people. The administration urges people to stay alert for rates between three and 10 cases per 100,000 people.
