"The Papua Health Service has distributed RDT instruments from the Health Ministry to eight districts and municipality in Papua since Saturday (Feb 9)," Chief of the Disease Prevention and Control of the Papua Health Service Dr Aaron Rumainum said here on Monday.
Rumainum noted that the instrument will be able to detect whether it is dengue fever or not. Each of the small packs contains 10 units of RDT.
The eight districts are Biak Numfor, Timika, Nabire, Merauke, Kota Jayapura, Boven Digoel, Asmat, and Sarmi.
"We ask district health service office in each district to buy RDT if they run out of it," he added.
As many as 15,132 cases of dengue fever were reported in Indonesia, with 145 deaths, as of Feb 1, 2019, according to the Health Ministry.
East Java Province witnessed the highest number of dengue cases, with 3,074 cases, resulting in 52 deaths, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, the ministry`s director for vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, stated on Friday.
West Java ranked second, with 2,204 cases, causing 14 deaths; followed by East Nusa Tenggara, with 1,092 cases, resulting in 13 deaths; and North Sumatra, with 1,071 cases, leading to 13 deaths.
The ministry recorded 53,075 cases of dengue fever in 2018; 68,407 cases in 2017; and 204,171 cases in 2016.
Reporting by Musa Abubar, Suharto
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
