NEA launches 2-week dengue exercise as cases reach record high

Residents should cooperate with NEA officers doing their inspection rounds. PHOTO: NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY
The "intensive two-week islandwide exercise" will require all residents' cooperation. PHOTO: NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

SINGAPORE - Dengue cases fell by more than 20 per cent last week, but weekly numbers remain high and more than 600,000 households across Singapore continue to be located in over 390 dengue clusters islandwide, the National Environment Agency (NEA) warned on Wednesday (Aug 5).

Singapore remains in the midst of the traditional dengue season from May to October and the agency is working with all town councils - as well as numerous other stakeholders - to curb dengue's spread in the coming fortnight, in what is on track to be the country's worst outbreak on record.

This "intensive two-week islandwide exercise" will require all residents' cooperation, the agency said, calling on those in hot spots in particular to perform three protective actions.

These are: Spray insecticide in dark corners around the house, apply insect repellent regularly, and wear long sleeves and long pants.

Residents should also cooperate with NEA officers doing their inspection rounds, as well as check for and get rid of stagnant water in their homes at least once a week.

The exercise comes as the number of dengue cases this year reached a record high. There are 22,403 reported dengue cases this year as of Tuesday, surpassing the previous high of 22,170 in 2013.

As of Sunday, 20 people have died from the disease, matching 2019's full year count of 20. The highest full year fatality count to date is in 2005, when 25 people died.

Providing an update on the dengue situation, the NEA said weekly dengue cases have fallen from a high of 1,792 in the third week of July to 1,380 last week. But it added that weekly cases have remained "persistently high" at above 1,000 for the eighth consecutive week now.

Large clusters remain, with up to 79 per cent of mosquitoes in the cluster near Bukit Panjang Ring Road and Jelapang Road found to be breeding in homes.

The number of dengue clusters has, however, dropped from 434 on July 28 to 391 on Tuesday.

This is partly due to the Government's intensified efforts, the NEA said, which included mass publicity on television and online platforms, intensified dengue inspection, as well as deploying volunteers to engage residents in large dengue cluster areas.

Volunteers have engaged almost 55,000 people, and more than 552,000 inspections islandwide have been conducted between January and July.

This year's outbreak has been particularly bad for several reasons, one of which being that more people are staying at home in the day due to the coronavirus, which provides "day-biter" mosquitoes with more targets.

Other factors include the prevalence of a previously dormant serotype of dengue which people have lower immunity to, which likely led to the unusually high number of weekly cases at the start of the year, before the usual dengue season began.

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