Hawaii County mayor has announced a state of emergency on Hawaii's Big Island due to an outbreak of dengue, a mosquito-borne fever.

Since September last year, about 250 confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne virus have been reported on the island. In the declaration, Mayor Billy Kenoi said that state health officials first reported two cases in late October 2015.

Kenoi said that dengue fever is a virus that gets transmitted by infected mosquitoes, and though it isn’t endemic to Hawaii, it now and then gets imported here by infected travelers.

The Hawaii Department of Health said that symptoms of the mosquito-borne fever include all of a sudden onset of fever; severe headaches; pain in eyes, joints and muscles; and rashes. The symptoms generally stay for 1 to 2 weeks.

The HDOH said that out of the confirmed cases, 227 were residents of Hawaii Island and 24 were visitors, and added that just two of the cases are still potentially infectious.

The declaration made by Kenoi has also lifted a law that bans county landfills from considering tires. Reuters explained that tires that are generally left lying around at any place are one of mosquitoes’ common breeding spot.

In a statement, Hawaii Governor David Y. Ige said that, “state supports the county's effort to break the cycle of dengue fever infection and transmission on Hawai'i Island”.

He didn’t declare a statewide emergency proclamation, mentioned that the step would have been taken if outbreak spread to other islands or expanded to involve Zika virus, among other factors.

The likely association between grave birth defects and the Zika virus has been deemed as an international health emergency by the World Health Organization.