Taiwan records 3 more dengue fever deaths as cases surpass 10,000

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Taiwan recorded three more dengue fever deaths last week as cases from an outbreak centered almost entirely in Tainan surpassed 10,000, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

According to CDC figures, 9,463 of the 10,496 local dengue fever cases this year were recorded in Tainan, as Taiwan tackles its most severe outbreak in nearly a decade.

In a press release Tuesday, the CDC said 1,855 of the 2,017 new dengue fever cases reported in the week of Sept. 19-25 were in Tainan.

According to the CDC, three more dengue fever deaths were recorded nationwide over the last week, bringing the total number of fatalities this year from the disease to 15.

The CDC advised people to wear light-colored outfits with long sleeves and spray themselves with government-approved mosquito repellent to avoid being stung.

People should also reduce the number of containers left outdoors, or clean and brush such containers after rain to eliminate mosquito eggs and larvae, the CDC added.

In an attempt to rein in the worsening outbreak, a joint CDC-central government task force set up operations in Tainan on Sept. 18.

At the time of the task force's establishment, Deputy Director General Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) said that the aim was to bring new weekly domestic dengue fever cases down to below 1,000 within one month.

Meanwhile, the CDC has also recorded 165 imported cases so far this year, mostly from Southeast Asian countries, with Thailand topping the list with 43 cases, followed by Vietnam (31) and Indonesia (25).

The CDC also identified Latin America as another hot spot for dengue fever, with a total of more than 3.47 million cases reported in Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia.

It added that Taiwan has recorded 10, 496 local cases so far this year, the second highest in ten years, just behind 2015, when over 43,000 cases were reported, and that more than half of the country's administrative areas have reported cases.