South China's Guangdong Province has reported 30 cases of dengue fever this year, up 172 percent compared to a year earlier, the provincial health and family planning commission announced on Tuesday.
Twenty-seven of the cases were contracted outside of Guangdong, as neighboring Southeast Asian countries have been plagued by dengue fever this year, according to the commission.
The province reported its first dengue case on April 11, about two months earlier than in the past five years.
In April, Yu Jingjin, head of the disease prevention and control division with the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said the country's efforts to control epidemics will focus on dengue this year.
From Jan. 1 to early April, 19 provinces reported 67 dengue infections, an increase of about 42 percent from the previous year, Yu said.
Last year, China reported about 46,000 dengue cases compared with around 1,000 in previous years, mostly in south China.
