Task force fears slight increase in dengue infections despite recent declines
06 Jul 2011, 5:02 PM
Neil Merrett
A representative for a government-appointed taskforce working to coordinate responses to a national dengue fever outbreak has claimed provisional data has indicated a slight increase in infections over the last 24 hours – days after cases appeared to be declining.
Earlier this week, the government labelled the latest outbreak of dengue fever across the country as an “epidemic“ on the back of growing concerns about infection rates. By Tuesday (July 7), the outbreak had been linked to the death of seven people within a week, with a number of children reported among the fatalities.
Although today’s figures are yet to be officially released at the time of going to press, a media spokesperson for the taskforce told Minivan News that case numbers once again appeared to have increased. However, the spokesperson claimed that the anticipated increase in infection rates was not thought to be “significant” in comparison to numbers recorded earlier this week.
“We had believed that the number of [dengue] cases was being reduced. However have seen figures that suggest the number of cases were increasing again,” the spokesperson said.
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