Major city declares state of emergency after sudden rise in deadly virus cases

05 March 2024 , 16:49

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Other cities, including Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina, have also declared a state of emergency relating to dengue this year. (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

A Brazillian city has declared a state of emergency after a sudden rise in dengue virus has left 31 people dead.

The measures from the Sao Paulo government come as 300 cases of the disease were confirmed per one hundred thousand inhabitants. Other cities, including Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina, have also declared a state of emergency relating to dengue this year.

Control coordinator of diseases in Sao Paulo, Regiane de Paula, said: "We worked with data from the monitoring panel: 311 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. We are in an epidemic, according to what the WHO (World Health Organization) determines from confirmed cases."

Acting Secretary of HealthPriscilla Perdicaris said: "What changes now with the decree is that we can have a little more agility to acquire inputs, hire people, increase our care network. And municipalities can use our decree as justification to declare a state of emergency in their municipalities."

The degree ensures the release of useful resources from the federal government, both for the state and municipalities. She added: "It's a limited resource, we don't even have an estimate of the global value yet. But any resource helps."

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The Secretary of Health said she mapped which hospitals and health units can expand care, but did not say when this measure will be put into practice. The government monitors dengue serotypes in the state of Sao Paulo. Currently, according to the Disease Control coordinator, the incidence is higher for dengue types 1 and 2.

Dengue cases are rising in Brazil (Isaac Fontana/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

According to the department, another 122 deaths are still under investigation. Cases reached 138,259, with 169 considered serious. In the capital, in addition to the two people who died from the disease, another 27 deaths are under investigation. Cases reached 32,212, reported news agency g1 Global.

According to the City of São Paulo, the majority of infections are concentrated in 15 neighborhoods that are experiencing a dengue epidemic , distributed across the North, South, East and West zones.

Zesha Saleem