Brazil registered record cases of dengue in 2024

SAO PAULO -- Brazil has registered a record 1,889,206 suspected cases of dengue so far this year with 561 deaths, the health ministry said Monday.

In face of surging dengue cases coincides, a health emergency was declared Monday by South America's largest city, Sao Paulo, following a wave of the viral disease spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, according to the latest report by the ministry's arbovirus panel.

The previous record was 1,688,688 cases in 2015. And the third highest number was registered in 2023, with 1,658,816 cases.

According to the ministry, as of Monday, 561 deaths have been confirmed since Jan. 1 and 1,020 remain under investigation.

Around 75 percent of mosquito breeding sites are found in homes, including in bottles and construction materials, the ministry said.

Such breeding sites allow the proliferation of the female mosquito Aedes aegypti, which spreads dengue.