Massive operation against dengue

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will launch a massive anti-dengue fever operation on April 26 in a bid to fight the disease which this year has killed 43 people and hospitalized 3,993 as of yesterday.

City Health Agency spokeswoman Maryani said the operation would include the scrubbing of household water tanks, buckets, pets' drinking bowls, vases and water reservoirs and the burial of used cans.

"The operation, which will involve the participation of all residents, will be done simultaneously in the city's five mayoralties," she said.

Maryani said the operation was intended mainly to stop the lifecycle of aedes aegypty mosquitoes, which spread the virus. The mosquitoes usually live and breed in clean water found in tanks and buckets or rainwater trapped in banana bunches, she said.

Maryani said that East Jakarta was the most heavily affected area with the total number of fatalities and sufferers reaching 11 and 1,069 respectively since January.

In North Jakarta, 905 people have been taken to hospitals for medical treatment and three had reportedly died, she said.

Seven-hundred-and-thirty-five people have been hospitalized in South Jakarta, 622 in West Jakarta and 661 in Central Jakarta. The death tolls from the outbreak are nine in both South and West Jakarta and 11 in Central Jakarta. (cst/ind)