Peru declares health emergency

Peru declared a health emergency across most of the country on Monday as a heat wave and heavy rains have led to a spike in dengue fever cases. The South American nation's death toll due to the virus has risen to 32 so far this year, Health Minister Cesar Vasquez said. Total cases also climbed to 31,300 in the first eight weeks of the year, Vasquez said, up from 24,981 in the first seven weeks. The Peruvian government's cabinet approved the motion to declare a health emergency, Vasquez told journalists, hours after he said a dengue outbreak was "imminent." "There are 20 regions (out of 25) that will be declared in a health emergency due to dengue," Vasquez said in an earlier interview on local radio station RPP. The declaration boosts resources to health responders in the affected areas.

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