Twenty-one children are among 33 people who have died in Cuba of the mosquito-borne chikungunya and dengue viruses since July, authorities said Monday.
Most of the deaths were attributed to chikungunya -- characterized by fever and joint pain that can be debilitating but rarely fatal -- while the flu-like dengue claimed 12 lives, the country's deputy health minister Carilda Pena said on state TV.
The chikungunya virus emerged in Cuba's western Matanzas province in July, but soon spread to all 15 provinces of the country of 9.7 million people.
Simultaneously, the communist island has been afflicted by an outbreak of dengue that hit as Cuba battles shortages of clean water, food, fuel and medicine during its worst economic crisis in decades.
Cuba, long known for its medical and pharmaceutical expertise, was able to deal a swift blow to a previous chikungunya outbreak in 2014.
This time, the one-party state reports, the outbreak spiraled out of control due to "lack of hygiene, accumulated garbage" and people storing water in tanks to mitigate the intermittent availability of clean tap water.
With the country under US sanctions and its critical tourism sector left in ruins by Covid, a dearth of foreign currency has seen a steep decline in Cuba's medical services and prevention programs such as mosquito fumigation.
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