Thailand's Public Health Ministry is on high alert to prevent a dengue fever epidemic during this rainy season as the number of infections and deaths continue to rise, according to Prat Boonyawongworote, the permanent secretary of the ministry.

From this month until August, all provincial health offices have been put on full alert to monitor the vector-borne disease which usually hits Thailand hardest when the rains come, Prat Was quoted by newspaper the Nation's website as saying Sunday.

During this period, he said, each province was required to maximize its public campaigns to encourage people to cooperate with health officers in regularly destroying the sources of mosquitoes, the carrier of the disease.

Furthermore, he said, in an attempt to reduce the number of cases and deaths from the disease this year, each province was required to take measures to contain a dengue epidemic within 24 hours of receiving a report of an infection.

As of June 17, there had been about 12,500 cases of dengue fever reported across Thailand this year or about 20 per 100,000 people. The total number of deaths from dengue fever in the period was 15.

Source: Xinhua