With dengue fever still spreading, the Department of Health (DOH) pointed to infection numbers yes-terday showing that the disease poses the greatest threat to Kao-hsiung County.
By yesterday, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) under the DOH, 1,109 cases were officially reported from 15 counties.
Among them, 1,093 cases have been discovered in three jurisdictions in southern Taiwan: 548 in Kaohsiung City, 531 in Kaohsiung County and 14 in Pingtung County.
Officials said that 20 cases in the south had been confirmed as dengue hemorrhagic fever, the most severe form of the disease.
Another 16 cases were reported from counties in northern and central Taiwan, the officials said.
To figure out more effective ways to control the spread of the disease, Environmental Protection Administration head Hau Lung-bin (
At a strategy meeting with local government officials, Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who had been worried that the disease might have a negative impact on the year-end Kaohsiung mayoral election, said that the situation in Kaohsiung is under control.
Lee said that the result could be attributed to earlier actions taken by the city.
"However, the situation in Kao-hsiung County and Pingtung County is worrisome," Lee said at the meeting.
Lee said he's afraid that the number of cases would reach 2,000 because experience shows that the spread of the disease would not be under control until November.
Lee, however, said that two deaths in Kaohsiung City that had earlier been blamed on the disease were in fact unrelated to dengue.
Hau stressed the importance of keeping the environment clean.
"No one has the right to breed mosquitoes that threaten others," Hau said.
Hau reminded the public that the most effective way to combat the outbreak is to eliminate the breeding sites for carriers of the virus by draining stagnant water.
Pools of stagnant water provide a breeding ground for the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which spread the virus.
Hau said that residents who fail to keep residential areas free from such pools would be fined between NT$1,200 and NT$6,000.
After the strategy meeting, Lee and Hau inspected kindergartens, playgrounds, traditional markets and parks in Kaohsiung City to call for the public's cooperation to prevent the disease's spread.
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