HÀ NỘI — The number of new dengue cases has declined nearly 24 per cent nationwide over the past four weeks, the health ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department director Trần Đắc Phu said on Thursday.

From September 4 to 10, the health sector reported more than 5,600 new dengue fever cases and no fatality, a decline of 23.9 per cent compared with the previous week.

Phu, however, warned that dengue fever seems like it will continue to develop complications in the coming weeks as the disease is still at its peak.

Phu said irregular changes in weather would create favourable conditions for the breeding of the dengue fever vector.

According to the health ministry’s inspection results, mosquito larvae were found in the homes of many families in various localities. Notably, many residents had not taken the initiative in disinfecting their homes. Chemical spraying was still low - only 80 per cent of the population was covered in areas prone to the spread of dengue.

The Hà Nội Health Department reported more than 27,000 new dengue fever cases, including seven deaths, in the capital city from September 1 to 10. New infection cases were, however, on the decline thanks to drastic efforts to clean up the environments and chemical spraying measures undertaken by the city over the past weeks.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Thanh Long requested localities to continue to focus on dengue fever prevention measures with a focus on killing mosquito larvae, cleaning the environment and strictly censuring localities and individuals violating norms.

Killing mosquitoes and mosquito larvae is as an important measure in preventing and fighting dengue fever. Local authorities should strictly deal with families that do not cooperate with the health sector in spraying chemicals to killing mosquito and mosquito larvae.

Long also suggested localities implement large-scale chemical spraying drives and expand communication campaigns to strengthen people and community’s awareness on dengue fever prevention.

The health ministry reported nearly 125,000 dengue fever cases, including 29 fatalities and more than 105,300 hospitalised patients in Việt Nam since the beginning of 2017. The number of hospitalised patients increased nearly 44 per cent while there were 10 more fatalities compared with the same period last year. — VNS