More on Dengue

1. Dengue Cases Rising Rapidly
PUTRAJAYA, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- The number of dengue cases is rising fast, hitting 1,415 cases in the second week of this year from 1,054 the previous week or up 34.9 per cent.
Health Ministry disease control division director Dr Ramlee Rahmat said Selangor recorded the most number of cases, increasing by 153 cases to 654 in the Jan 9 to 15 period.

It was followed by Kuala Lumpur which saw 39 new cases to 246 and Pahang from 40 to 69 cases, he told reporters, here Thursday.

He said the total number of cases in other states also rose except in Terengganu which declined from 21 cases in the first week to 17 in the second.

Dr Ramlee said the ministry's enforcement officers have stepped up checks for potential breeding places of aedes mosquitoes, the carrier of the dengue virus, by inspecting 65,073 premises in the second week compared to 54,508 before.

The premises included shophouses, construction sites, schools, factories, government offices, abandoned houses, places of worship, cemeteries, garbage dumps, vacant land, road dividers and recreational parks.

"We found 685 premises breeding aedes mosquitoes and construction sites remained the worst culprit at 13.1 per cent followed by factories (8.1 per cent) and vacant land (7.1 per cent)," he said.

He said the owners of 267 premises were fined while three premises were ordered closed.

Fogging was carried out in areas with dengue cases while anti-larvae chemical was dropped into water containers in 6,269 premises.

-- BERNAMA

2. School Bus Operators Urged To Fog Buses
PUTRAJAYA, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- School bus operators are urged to conduct fogging in their buses before picking up schoolchildren to protect them from being bitten by the dengue-carrying aedes mosquito.

Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad said schoolchildren who go to school in the morning were exposed to aedes mosquitoes who feed twice a day, with the first one between 6 and 7am.

He said the ministry had directed the Road Transport Department (RTD) to inform school bus operators to do so as soon as possible.

"School buses usually pick up the children between 6 and 6.30am and they are prone to aedes mosquito-bites then," he told reporters after chairing his ministry's post-cabinet meeting, here Wednesday.

Mohd Isa said house-to-house inspections implemented by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall Health Unit to prevent dengue would also be conducted at night.

He said pamphlets would be distributed during the inspections to raise public awareness on dengue prevention.

On another matter, Mohd Isa said the Federal Territories Day celebration on Feb 1 would be celebrated moderately and the official celebration would be held at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.

"Kuala Lumpur will be the host and representatives from the Federal Territories of Putrajaya and Labuan would also be present on that day," he said.

-- BERNAMA

3. Ministry Backs Action Against Errant Local Councils
PETALING JAYA, Jan 21 (Bernama) -- The Housing and Local Government Ministry will back any action against local authorities, which are found to have neglected public places or premises under their care, resulting in these places becoming breeding grounds for the aedes mosquito.

Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said Friday that the places under the responsibility of the local councils included public parks and playgrounds.

"Nobody is above the law, be they individuals, NGOs (non-governmental organisation) or local authorities.

"Somebody must be responsible for the area. If they (local authorities) are not doing their job properly, I think they should be fined," he told reporters after launching MCA's Life-Long Learning Campaign here.

Ong said the local authorities were not exempted from the law as the rule applied to all, even if they were regulators.

Ong, who was also the MCA president, was asked to comment on the warning issued by the Health Ministry's Communicable Disease Control Director, Dr Ramlee Rahmat, that the ministry would not hesitate to take action against all those found providing breeding grounds for the aedes mosquito, the dengue carrier.

The warning was issued following the increase in the number of the dengue cases reported in Kedah, Melaka, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.

The Health Ministry said the dengue outbreak, declared on Jan 9, was initially confined to Selangor, Federal Territory, Penang and Pahang but had spread to other states since.

-- BERNAMA

MOH now says that the dengue outbreak is spreading to other states and has not been contained in the earlier mentioned states :: Selangor, FT/KL, Penang and Pahang. The 'migration' during the present long weekend and the CNY season is very worrying as it would help to spread the disease.
The Housing and Local Government Ministry has given the MOH to take action against errant local authorities who are allowing public places to become aedes breeding grounds. Joe public can help by reporting such breeding grounds.
The fogging of public transport vehicles should not be confined to school buses, other vehicles like public buses, vans, trains etc should be similar fogged. But who is going to enforce it.