Palau’s declared Dengue Fever Outbreak status finally ends after 15 months of battling the dengue fever outbreak. Ending the outbreak status does not mean that the dengue fever is over but that the number of cases per month have dropped below the outbreak threshold of 10 reported cases per month.
The dengue fever outbreak was first declared in December of 2018 and after a year and three months, Palau finally saw less than 10 reported cases in March.
Since the outbreak declaration, Palau has had 828 reported cases. Of these cases, 73% were reported in Koror and 27% were throughout the 15 States. Only three States, Angaur, Hatohobei and Sonsorol have no reported cases. Of the 828, 302 were admitted to hospital and two dengue-related deaths occurred. Month of July 2019 had the highest number of cases recorded of 141.
Minister of Health Dr. Emais Roberts warns the public that dengue carrying mosquito is still around and that cases could jump up again if people stop practicing the 3S of Dengue Prevention such as keeping their surroundings clear and clean of possible breeding sites and protecting themselves with mosquito repellant and wearing proper covering outfits.
Ministry of Health expressed its appreciation to the public and urged continued collaboration efforts to prevent future outbreaks.