Dengue puts Peru on alert, this is what we know 2:36

(CNN Spanish) -- 

The Government of Peru formalized this Wednesday a declaration of health emergency for most of its territory - 19 of the 24 departments and one of the two provinces - due to the dengue epidemic that affects the country, according to a decree published at night in the Official Newspaper.

The declaration will last for 90 days and will have effects in the departments of Amazonas, Ancash, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Cusco, Huánuco, Ica, Junín, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Lima, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Pasco, Piura, Puno, San Martín, Tumbes and Ucayali, as well as in the constitutional province of Callao, according to the document signed by President Dina Boluarte and the Minister of Health, César Henry Vásquez.

The decree came to light two days after the president met with the Council of Ministers to analyze the impact of dengue in Peru.

During that meeting it was agreed to declare a health emergency.

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Until the seventh week of 2024, Peru had 24,981 cases of dengue, 97.9% more than those registered in the same period of 2023, according to figures from the Ministry of Health.

In addition, 28 deaths had been recorded due to this disease, when in the same period last year there were 18.

In the Andean region, Peru is the second country with the most cases so far in 2024. It is only surpassed by Colombia, which has 40,662, according to the platform of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization. Health (PAHO) that monitors this condition.

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The declaration of emergency – the decree states – implies that the Ministry of Health, the national institutions of the branch and the health authorities of the localities involved must “carry out immediate actions” to prevent and guarantee the care of cases.

This includes contracting the goods and services necessary to face the effects of the epidemic.

In February, the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said at a public event in Brazil that this year there is “a global rebound” in dengue due to the planet's climatic conditions, such as heat and unusual rains that favor proliferation of the mosquito that transmits the virus that causes the disease.

Dengue