Taiwan dengue cases top 20,000

Taipei: Taiwan has seen 20,241 dengue cases since May in the worst outbreak of the disease in 17 years, although it is now moderating, the island's disease control centre reported on Sunday.

The daily number of dengue fever cases confirmed in Tainan city, the most seriously affected area, has decreased for 10 consecutive days, Xinhua news agency cited the reports as saying.

As of Saturday, there were 17,278 cases in Tainan and 2,636 in the neighbouring city of Kaohsiung.

A total of 16,879 patients have recovered, while five deaths were reported due to dengue in the past week.

A total of 53 dengue-infected patients are in intensive care on Saturday.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, potentially fatal disease that mainly affects people in tropical and subtropical regions, causing fever, nausea and muscle and joint aches.