Fogging at City Hall as Basuki Comes Down With Dengue
Jakarta. As Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has come down with dengue fever, the Jakarta administration on Monday afternoon organized a session of insecticide fogging to kill mosquitoes at City Hall.
Basuki called in sick on Monday, after a medical check showed he had contracted the painful, and potentially deadly, mosquito-borne disease. One of his children has also fallen ill.
Fadillah, from the Gambir community health clinic (Puskesmas), said the fogging session was ordered by Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat.
Last year, dengue infections in Jakarta peaked in March, according to data from the Jakarta Health Agency. The agency warned people earlier this year remain alert.
“People should watch out for dengue fever,” Kusmedi, the head of the Jakarta Health Agency, told state-run news agency Antara on Feb. 15. “The number of those infected by illness tends to increase as the rainy season leads to floods.”
“As many as 165 people fell ill because of dengue fever this January, with one fatality. While the number has gone down since, we expect it to rise again in the coming peak months,” Kusmedi said.
The health agency also called on Jakartans to live a healthy and clean lifestyle and to clean and cover water containers and trash receptacles where Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can breed.
Dengue is spread through the bite of the female Aedes mosquito, which becomes infected when it takes the blood of a person carrying the virus, the World Health Organization explains on its website. The mosquito can then transmit the virus by biting a healthy person.
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