"At an extraordinary session, the Chamber of Deputies approved a draft law that introduces an emergency epidemiological situation throughout Paraguay due to the dengue epidemic", the Chamber said.
Earlier, a similar decision was made by the country's Senate.
This measure, which will last 90 days, will allow directing more money from the budget and various funds to fight the disease.
According to the country's Health Ministry, in 2020, a total of 4,255 cases of dengue fever were confirmed and 85,290 suspected cases were identified, with 16 fatalities from the disease.
More than 80 percent of the reported cases correspond to Asunción and the peripheral area, the director of Communicable Diseases of the Ministry of Health, Hernán Rodríguez, said.
On 22 January, the country's Health Minister Julio Mazzoleni said that Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez had contracted the disease but returned to work two days later.
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease that can entail serious, potentially lethal health conditions. Symptoms may include headaches, vomiting, skin rash and low blood pressure. While children and elderly people are considered the most vulnerable to this infection, up to half of all lethal cases occur among adults aged 20 to 40.
