TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Health Ministry recorded 254 deaths nationwide due to dengue fever since early in January of this year with two provinces sustaining the most number of casualties.

“West Java and East Nusa Tenggara are provinces that need to be watched for dengue fever as both equally have a high number of cases,” said the Ministry’s Director of Vector Infection Disease Prevention and Control, Siti Tarmidzi on Monday.

Based on the Health Ministry’s data up to April 4, there had been 5,894 cases of dengue fever followed by NTT with 4,493 cases. The third most impacted region is Lampung with 3,682 cases, East Java with 3,045 cases, and Bali with 2,173 cases.

Out of the five regions, West Java and NTT are officially considered as ‘dengue fever red zones’ while the remaining three are ‘yellow zones’ with a combined total of 39,876 cases nationwide.

The mortality rate in NTT remains to be the highest with 48 deaths followed by 30 deaths in West Java, 16 deaths in Central Java, and 16 deaths in Lampung.

Health Ministry’s director-general of disease control and prevention Achmad Yurianto said that Indonesia is entering a transition season from the rainy to draught, which in the past shows increasing cases of dengue fever.

ANTARA