Havana, September 7 (RHC)--Cuba's Prime Minister Manuel Marrero called for the reinforcement of environmental sanitation efforts, given the surge in cases of dengue fever in the country.

During the weekly meeting of the Government Working Group that evaluates the epidemiological situation on the island, Marrero pointed out that although the country is going through a complex situation regarding the availability of fuel and other resources, "it is necessary to make an effort, not to neglect first order tasks such as garbage collection, fumigation or to comply with the established measures,"

At the meeting, headed by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal, spoke about the actions being carried out in the country to deal with dengue and reported that the disease is present in all provinces.

The Health Minister insisted on the need to reinforce sanitary measures, control groups in health areas, and the quality of focal treatment to eliminate the vector. As well as speeding up the blocking of suspected cases and the timely admission of patients with warning signs and those identified as sick, he added.

María Guadalupe Guzmán, director of the research center of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, recalled that the island has a network of laboratories for the surveillance of the viruses "that are circulating, not only dengue but also other mosquito-borne diseases."

She explained that the Caribbean nation played a fundamental role in the World Health Organization's new dengue classification, with or without warning signs, "aimed at preventing the patient from worsening".