Sami Badawood, director of the Directorate of Health Affairs of Jeddah, has confirmed that hospitals in Jeddah have received more than 260 cases of dengue fever in the past month. Speaking to Arab News, he said that more than 50 percent of these cases affected children.

Badawood said the directorate is currently working in coordination with the Jeddah Secretariat to put in place a specific schedule for officials to visit homes in Jeddah across a number of neighborhoods in order to examine dengue fever cases before they spread. These visits will serve as both medical check-ups and awareness visits about the treatment of these cases.

A number of residents living in North Jeddah have complained to Arab News about the presence of waterlogged areas in some neighborhoods despite them being among the newer and more upscale districts in Jeddah. These pools, they argue, serve as perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes carrying dengue fever. Walid Abded, Samir Tahlawi, and Mohsen Bin Zagr, who live close to King Abdulaziz International Airport and the King Abdullah Sport City, say they have reported their concerns to the secretariat of the province more than once, but there has been a lukewarm response. They called on the Secretariat to accelerate efforts to address the problem of pools scattered in the neighborhood.

Media spokesman of the Jeddah Secretariat, Abdulaziz Al-Ghamdi, said that specialist teams have taken action to combat mosquitoes. On receiving a tip about a case of dengue, they immediately visit the site and conduct a comprehensive survey of the location, spraying pesticides and instructing residents about the way the disease needs to be tackled, he said.