There are now eight confirmed cases of pregnant women infected with Zika in Singapore, up from two cases on Sept 1, the last time the authorities reported that a pregnant woman was infected.

“Their doctors are following up closely with them to provide support and counselling,” the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a joint statement on Sunday (Sept 11).

As of noon on Sunday, 11 new Zika cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of locally transmitted cases to 329.

Of the new cases, 10 have no known links to any existing cluster, which is the largest number of such cases since Sept 1 as well.

Previously, the number of new cases with no known links ranged from between one and six.

One new case that surfaced on Sunday is linked to the Elite Terrace cluster. In all, the number of new cases each day has ranged between nine and 14 since last Thursday.

Speaking to reporters at a community event on Sunday, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said that while Zika is a “mild disease” compared with Sars, the community must take the threat “seriously” to prevent the virus from being entrenched here.

“Once the Zika disease is entrenched, the numbers will be in the thousands,” he said. Noting the risks posed to expectant mothers, he added that the community would need to “go all out” to eradicate the root cause of the issue, which is the Aedes mosquito.

“If we do that, we’re killing two birds with one stone. When you keep the population of the Aedes mosquito down, you’re keeping dengue fever in check,” he said.

On how the authorities have been dealing with the outbreak so far, he lauded the National Environment Agency officers’ and grassroots leaders’ swift action in looking for breeding sites.

However, he cautioned that the public should not “be alarmed” and instead make it one’s duty to wipe out all possible breeding sites in their homes.

Vector control operations and outreach efforts in the seven existing Zika cluster areas are in progress.

As of Saturday, a total of 202 breeding habitats have been found and destroyed in the cluster areas, of which 121 are in homes, and 81 in common areas/other premises.

Statistics in Singapore generally show that the majority of mosquito breeding sites detected and destroyed by the NEA are found in homes in private estates.

And in a letter sent on Sunday to this newspaper, the NEA said most its 748,000 inspections carried out so far this year have found that the majority have heeded calls to check their premises for mosquito breeding and their premises were mosquito-free.

From Jan 1 to July 31, the NEA issued more than 410 Notices to Attend Court and more than 50 Stop Work Orders to construction sites for mosquito breeding, while about 2,200 households were also fined for mosquito breeding in their homes.

A resident at the community event in Joo Chiat on Sunday, retiree James Lau, 65, said that the threat of Zika was something to be “careful about”.

Noting that the area had been a prime dengue hotspot, he said his 22-year old daughter had started putting on mosquito patches while studying late into the night, and they made sure to keep the windows shut.

“At this point of time, I’m not unduly concerned ... We just have to be careful,” he said.

Mrs Ng Shu Ee, 35, a mother of a four-month-old boy, said she decided to install mosquito nets in her house after she was struck by dengue last year.

“We have young children, so using mosquito repellent is a constant in our home ... We also check the drains in our home for any larvae,” she said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TOH EE MING

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by Today

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