Dengue on the double — and ministry’s worried
PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry is concerned over the high number of dengue cases reported nationwide with more than 900 cases detected every week this year.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the figure has more than doubled compared to last year’s weekly average of 400 cases.
He said about 47% of the total cases were in Selangor, with the highest number reported in the Petaling and Hulu Langat districts.
The number of deaths from dengue also increased this year with 45 fatalities reported compared to 27 cases in the same period last year, he said.
“This year, wehave checked 2.8mil premises and 40,877 premises were found to be (Aedes) positive.
“Various actions have been taken including the issuance of notice and compounds totalling RM4.8mil.
“The Government will continue to pursue charges against irresponsible parties and take all necessary action to curb dengue, but we hope people will cooperate and take this issue more seriously by ensuring their premises do not have places for Aedes mosquitoes to breed,” Dr Subramaniam told a press conference here yesterday.
He added that the proposal to use genetically-modified mosquitoes to curb the Aedes mosquito population was still being studied.
Meanwhile, on reports of chickens being painted with yellow food dye and being passed off as kampung chicken, Dr Subramaniam said the ministry had found three such samples. “Although some of the dye is not harmful to health, the act of trying to pass off something as another is wrong,” he said.