PEOPLE in Limpopo should brace themselves for another season of malaria.
The provincial department of health said yesterday it had observed an increase in the notification of malaria with 440 cases of the disease reported by Thursday last week.
The increase is mostly confined to the known malaria high risk areas, the north eastern parts of Vhembe district and eastern Mopani.
The increase has been recorded at Donald Fraser, Musina, Malamulele, Nkhensani and Maphuta Malatji hospitals.
The department said the increase of the deadly virus had so far claimed three lives in the affected regions.
Department spokesperson Cecil Motsepe said though the increase did not constitute an outbreak or epidemic yet, the department was concerned about the latest development. The department was monitoring the situation closely in an effort to curb it spreading to other parts of the province.
The department had a malaria control programme in place to control and reduce infections.
"For this season we targeted 985000 houses to be sprayed and we are proud to announce that the programme is progressing smoothly after we sprayed more than 540000 houses," said Motsepe.