Dengue health emergency declared in Rio days before Carnival
A public health emergency has been declared in Rio de Janeiro due to an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever, just a few days before the Carnival starts across Brazil, The Associated Press reports
It was assumed that the outbreak would not disrupt the Carnival, which will officially begin on February 9th and last until February 14th. The city authorities have so far taken a number of special measures in the hope of containing the spread of the disease.
"Rio City Hall announced the opening of 10 care centres, the creation of an emergency operations centre and the allocation of hospital beds for dengue patients. Authorities will also use ‘smoke cars’ in regions with the highest incidence of cases, diffusing an insecticide in the air," the source said.
Since the beginning of 2024, more than 10,000 cases of dengue fever have been registered in the city. This is slightly less than half of the total number of cases – 23 thousand – registered for the whole of 2023.
