Dengue cases down 7.1 pct last week — Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of dengue fever cases reported in the 46th epidemiology week (ME46/22) from Nov 13 to 19 decreased by 122 cases or 7.1 per cent to 1,593 cases compared to 1,715 cases in the previous week.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement yesterday said no deaths due to dengue fever complications were reported during the period.

“The cumulative dengue fever cases reported so far is 54,570 cases compared to 23,057 cases for the same period in 2021, an increase of 31,513 cases (136.7 per cent),” he said.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, the cumulative number of deaths due to dengue complications was 37 cases compared to 18 deaths during the same period last year.

He said the number of hotspots reported in ME46/22 also decreased to 61 from 68 in the previous week.

Dr Noor Hisham said of the total, 32 hotspots are in Selangor, Sabah (19), Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (eight) and one each in Perak and Sarawak.

Elaborating, he said flash floods interspersed with hot weather could increase the breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes, especially in areas with abandoned containers.

“Apart from that, the movement of people from one place to another could potentially spread the dengue virus from asymptomatic carriers to areas visited, thus causing an epidemic in the new area,” he said.

As such, he advised the public to destroy Aedes mosquito breeding grounds, wipe out mosquitoes in the house, avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and use insecticides to kill larvae.

For chikungunya surveillance, he said four cases were recorded in ME46/22, namely two in Penang and one each in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and Negeri Sembilan, while the cumulative number of chikungunya cases to date is 692 cases.