City fear spread of dengue fever
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Head of City Health Agency, Abdul Chalik Masulili, warned people about the alarming spread of dengue fever in the city, which has seen at least 1,030 people infected and seven deaths in the past two months.
Out of the fatalities, four were children under 12.
"If the trend continues, there is a possibility that another extraordinary status will be declared," said Abdul Chalik.
During last year's "dengue season" from December to late March, which was later declared a national disaster, there were 1,625 Jakartans infected as of January, including 82 deaths, mostly children.
An extraordinary status can be declared if the number of patients doubles from the previous year.
"If there is a subdistrict that has more than three dengue cases, it will be put on alert," said Abdul Chalik. "Within 48 hours, we will fumigate in a radius of 100 meters around each patient's house."
He added that the best way to prevent the spread of the disease was for the public to eliminate the mosquito larvae, which usually can be found in puddles of water or water basins.
Unlike Jakarta, Bekasi regency declared on Tuesday the dengue outbreak an extraordinary incident, as the number of people infected with the virus as of Jan. 31 doubled last year's figure.
An official at the Bekasi health office, Yasmi, said that the office has recorded 70 dengue cases in two months.
"We do not necessarily have to wait until hospitals report the cases to us ... the residents can come straight to us to report whether there is a case in their area and we'll go there to check and fumigate the area," he was quoted as saying by detik.com on Tuesday.
Bekasi Hospital is currently treating 21 patients from the worst-affected subdistricts of Bekasi Barat and Bekasi Timur.
Two of the patients died, both children.
Jakarta earlier declared six subdistricts "status red", which means that three or more persons have contracted dengue and at least one person has died in the last three weeks in a particular area.
The remaining 72 subdistricts were declared yellow status, which means one or two people have been infected with the disease.
The six red subdistricts are Karet Tengsin in Central Jakarta, Rawa Badak in North Jakarta, Cilandak Timur and Cilandak Barat in South Jakarta and Cawang, Cijantung and Lubang Buaya in East Jakarta.
All other administrations in Greater Jakarta have been instructed to boost their campaigns to stop the spread of the disease, by draining open tanks, cover bath basins, and bury used cans to prevent the Aedes Aegypti mosquito from breeding.