Jakarta – A total of 1,099 people died of dengue fever in Indonesia in 2005, a health ministry official said here on Tuesday.

"The number is higher than last year's 957," said Rita Kusriastuti, head of the subdirectorate of arboviruses of the directorate general of disease control and environmental health.

In percentage, the number of deaths this year ranged from 1 percent to 1.4 percent, compared to 2.5 percent last year, Antara news agency quoted the official as saying.

She said cases of dengue fever were found across the provinces in the country with Jakarta claiming the highest number of lives (238), followed by East Java (200). "In some cases the deaths occurred because of the lack of health services," she said.

She said the number of dengue fever cases in the country had increased in the past four years. In 2002 they were recorded at only 40,377, but in 2003 they increased to 52,000 and later to 79,462 in 2004 and 80,837 in 2005.

Besides lack of funds in controlling the disease, implementation of the government program has yet to be maximized. She said "the government has actually prepared a good program for the disease control but as usual its implementation is not always as expected."