A 35 year-old woman in HCM City died of dengue fever on Tuesday, taking to six the total number of fatalities due to the disease since last year, according to the Preventive Medicine Centre.

The centre said the woman died in the city’s Thủ Đức District while being taken to the local general hospital with severe pneumonia.

There were 21,367 cases of dengue in HCM City last year, the same as in 2015, Dr Lê Thị Hồng Nga, head of the centre’s Infection Control Department, said.

The main season for dengue outbreaks is between October and November, and the incidence has peaked.

However, in districts 3, 5, 10 and Thủ Đức, the number continues to rise, she said.

Dengue is transmitted by mosquitoes. In recent years mosquito larvae have been appearing not only in water tanks in households but also in rainwater that collects in old tyres and other receptacles. 

VNS