Between January to June 17, 64,251 dengue hemorrhagic fever cases were reported with the death toll hitting 385, according to the Health Ministry.
But a major concern this year, she said, is why the cases have continued to climb though the peak months of March and April for dengue fever had passed. With many parts of the country easing social restrictions, the Health Ministry is encouraging operators of office buildings, places of worship and other venues to check the presence of larval mosquitoes and to carry out fogging or applying larvicide.
The number of dengue fever cases, whose patients are usually treated at home with prescribed drugs, is estimated to be 10 times bigger than the number of the dengue hemorrhagic fever cases, according to Dr Nadia. "The system put in place to monitor larval mosquitoes both independently by residents and by the government did not work as during the pandemic, as all the energy was dedicated to tackle the Covid-19," she said.
"With the stay-at-home advice, people didn't carry out activities to destroy mosquito nests massively," he said.