Nasty virus in decline, after months of rampage: Public Health

Santo Domingo.- Public Health minister Freddy Hidalgo on Friday said reports of chikungunya virus cases have started declining across the country for the last two weeks, the first such affirmation after months of the virtual epidemic.

"Now have provinces which are, so to speak, virgin, regarding the number of cases, and we’re prioritizing them for the purposes of preventing a new rebound of the disease," the official said during an activity to orient people and eliminate mosquito breeding sites to prevent epidemic diseases such as dengue and chikungunya.

Hidalgo, speaking in the capital barrio of Villa Francisca, said it’s one of the sector with the highest number of mosquito breeding sites, for which families need to be educated so they understand that their elimination decreases the possibility of contagion.

He also called on the city councils to collect garbage efficiently. "Definitely in the measure that people learn how to store their trash and avoid piling junk, plastic cups, heaps and old tires in their house, their yards and the streets, we’ll then decrease both chikungunya and dengue."