Maumere, NTT (ANTARA) - Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) has claimed a total of 37 lives in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province, as of Wednesday morning, according to data of the NTT Health Office.
"As of this morning, based on all data we have collected in 22 districts and cities related to DHF, 37 people have died, while the number of dengue cases from January to early March 2020 has reached 3,109 cases," NTT Provincial Health Office Secretary David Mandala stated here on Wednesday.
The figure increased, from 33 deaths on Monday, he noted.
Sikka District recorded the highest number of fatalities, with 14 deaths, and 1,216 DHF cases, he pointed out.
The province's capital city, Kupang, ranked second, with 462 cases and five fatalities, followed by Alor District, with a total of 308 cases and three fatalities.
Mandala noted that the increasing number of dengue sufferers dying in the province was owing to the delay encountered in moving the patients to community health posts (Puskesmas).
The NTT administration has stationed several specialist doctors at various areas worst affected by dengue fever cases.
The central government has also supported the NTT authorities by sending doctors and nurses to Sikka.
The authorities have urged the local community to keep the environment clean and to break the breeding chain of the aedes aegypti mosquito.
