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Dengue threat lingers amid COVID-19 case surge
Four hundred of the country’s 514 regencies and cities have reported cases of dengue fever this year.
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A healthcare worker sprays insecticide in Cinunuk village, Bandung, West Java, on June 5, as part of efforts to prevent dengue fever. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
I
ndonesia’s seasonally recurring outbreak of dengue fever may pose another threat to its healthcare system, which is already overwhelmed by the ongoing COVID-19 case surge.
As of late June, the Health Ministry had confirmed 20,257 cases of dengue fever nationwide this year, with 171 deaths. The cases were reported in 400 of the country’s 514 regencies and cities.
West Java recorded the highest number of dengue cases at around 3,000, followed by East Java with around 2,200. Bekasi, West Java, reported the highest number of cases at the regency or city level with 796 cases.
According to a report published on June 29 by the Health Ministry’s directorate of contagious, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, the country had 108,303 cases of dengue fever and 747 deaths in 2020, down from the previous year’s 138,127 cases.
The Health Ministry’s director of contagious, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, Didik Budijanto, said provinces in Java, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara usually recorded a high number of cases because of high public mobility and interprovincial travel.
Read also: 'God's will': Health minister's response on dengue fever deaths in East Nusa Tenggara
The virus can be carried by an infected person from a dengue hotspot to other regions. Female mosquitoes from the previously unaffected area, mainly of the species Aedes aegypti, can then act as a vector, spreading the virus to others.
