Rio opens dengue care center amid health emergency over new outbreak

The number of dengue fever cases in Brazil since 1st January is four times higher than the same period last year, government data showed on Saturday, ahead of the launch of a vaccination campaign.

Dengue fever has killed 29 people this year in Latin America's largest country, and an additional 173 deaths are being evaluated for possible links to the disease.

Two weeks ago, the Brazilian government announced that a free vaccination campaign targeting 3.2 million people would take place in February, with priority given to children aged 10 to 14.