Panama City, May 21 (PL-RHC) -- Dengue cases continue to rise in the district of San Miguelito, in Panama City, where 850 cases have been reported so far this year, said the director of the Regional Office of Health, Milizbeth Ramos.

She pointed out that in the last few hours, three people from Urracá Valley were infected with the virus, although there are no signs of alarm.

Ramos called on the Panamanian population, to deep clean their homes, as the rainy season considerably increases the risk of dengue. She said people should not rely on the fact that the infection by the Aedes Aegytpti mosquito that transmit the disease, is only 0.4 percent, and called to continue eliminating larval breeding sites, which multiply in the rainy season.

Regarding the problems with garbage collection in that district, she said they have been in constant communication with the company responsible for the waste to guarantee the daily collection as a prophylaxis to prevent breeding.

San Miguelito, which brings together nearly one-third of the capital's population, is one of the zones with biggest problems in garbage collection, especially of discarded tires, often used by the vector to lay their larvae.

Health authorities require people to use bags for waste and to take the tires no longer in use to suitable places, but “social indiscipline is high and people are not very cooperative,” Ramos stated.