Thailand Announces Dengue Epidemic As Contraction Numbers Double 5-Year Average - Reports

Thailand Announces Dengue Epidemic as Contraction Numbers Double 5-Year Average - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th June, 2019) Thailand's Department of Disease Control (DDC) announced a dengue fever epidemic in the country, local media reported, citing a department official.

According to DCC deputy director-general, Preecha Prempree, as cited by the Bangkok Post, as of June 11, at least 43 people died as a result of the virus and 28,785 people were reported to have caught it in 2019.

Prempree said that these statistics were double the five-year average and that the situation was similar in neighboring countries with similar climate and conditions. Prempree added that the government's failure to control the propagation of dengue mosquito larvae had caused the epidemic.

On Friday, Thailand's Public Health Ministry signed an agreement with several other state agencies, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Interior Ministry and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, to control the mosquito larvae.

On June 11, the World Health Organization called for action to minimize illness and deaths from dengue as several Asian countries, including Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, are experiencing unusually high numbers of dengue cases.