A new virtual human has been conjured to haunt Thailand with its dengue fever victims.
Ingma, a schoolgirl avatar with a public health message, flickered to life yesterday in a video warning against the toll of the mosquito-borne disease.
She shimmers with the faces of more than 1.2 million victims of dengue fever composited together from over a 15-year period.
“I am here to tell you viewers that dengue fever is closer and scarier than you think,” Ingma says in the 42-second video.
According to the Department of Disease Control, there have been 2,549 confirmed cases of dengue fever this year, with a total of three deaths reported.
Although dengue fever cases have decreased in recent years, top disease official Opas Karnkawinpong warned that its spread would become more severe this summer.
Cases fell 57%, from 117,000 to 68,000, between 2019 and 2020, and deaths dropped from 129 to 49.
Dengue fever mostly infects children, and kills the elderly and obese most frequently.
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