Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) on Monday proposed measures to protect the city, which was hit worst by its dengue fever epidemic last year, from future outbreaks, including setting up a national agency on dengue fever control and prevention.
An investigation into the outbreak found that it was caused by a water shortage early last year that led to many residents storing water in their homes, creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread the disease, Lai said.
Other factors that contributed to the spread of the disease were high temperatures and heavy rainfall during summer; two powerful typhoons that made it difficult to control the spread of mosquitoes; and the Tainan City Government’s lack of manpower and resources, Lai said.
He urged the central government to adopt measures proposed by the city administration to control and prevent dengue fever outbreaks.
One of the measures envisions the establishment of a national dengue fever control and prevention institute in southern Taiwan, while another seeks to revise the regulations on epidemic disease control and prevention so that those with dengue fever can be forcibly kept at home, Lai said.
The city government is to urge the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to run dengue fever scans on inbound passengers coming from areas affected by dengue fever, and to incorporate rapid dengue fever diagnostic tests into the health checks performed on foreign workers entering the nation for the first time, he added.
The measures are necessary, as it was discovered that the main culprit behind last years’ outbreak was a new dengue fever type 2 strain that originated from Indonesia, Lai said, without elaborating on how the strain made its way to Tainan.
Another proposed measure is an initiative to inform the public about bottle and can recycling systems, and a request for the Environmental Protection Administration to reconsider the existing system, he said.
The measures also include having the Ministry of the Interior launch a study on the architectural structure of buildings in southern regions that have water storage facilities, and urging the Ministry of Education to train specialists on insect-borne diseases.
The city recorded 22,752 reported cases of dengue fever between May 21 last year — when the first confirmed case was reported — and the end of last month, Tainan Department of Health Director Lin Sheng-che (林聖哲) said, adding that, of those who were infected, 112 people died.
CDC statistics released on Monday showed that the total number of confirmed dengue fever infections reached 43,280 cases nationwide between May last year and Monday, with 22,756 cases in Tainan and 19,597 in Kaohsiung.
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