Dirty back lanes, poorly managed gardens, as well as houses and land left abandoned, are among the main causes that have been contributing to the increase in dengue cases in Selangor, says state exco member Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud.

And making the situation more worrying were people who are unaware of the dangers of dengue, she said.

Dr Siti Mariah, who is state public health, unity, women empowerment and family committee chairman, said the state government launched the Selangor dengue integrated operations focusing on the four districts that recorded the highest cumulative cases, which are Petaling, Hulu Langat, Klang and Gombak.

“It involves the following agencies and departments – Selangor Health Department, district and land offices, local government authorities and health volunteer groups such as the Selangor Community Health Volunteers (Suka), Communication for Behavioural Impact (Combi) and Team Selangor.

“The operations, from Feb 15 to March 22, will focus on dengue prevention measures, such as destruction of breeding grounds, gotong- royong programmes, as well as advocacy activities with the local community through leaflet distribution, use of repellents and aerosol sprays.

“I have also reminded the agencies involved to impose fines on those found to have Aedes breeding grounds in their premises,” said Dr Siti Mariah during the state assembly sitting here.

She was responding to Halimey Abu Bakar (PH-Seri Setia) on dengue statistics and Shatiri Mansor (PH-Kota Damansara) on the increase in dengue cases.

Dr Siti Mariah also said for epidemiology week nine, which is from Feb 26 to March 4, 1,002 dengue cases were reported in Selangor.

This marks an 11% drop compared to 1,126 cases recorded the week before. Cumulatively, 10,128 dengue cases were reported as of epidemiology week nine, which marks a 140.5% increase (5,917 cases), compared to the same epidemiology week last year (4,211 cases).

Two deaths were reported during this period while there was none during the same period last year, she added.

She said all the relevant agencies and departments had been asked to step up existing dengue prevention and control measures, such as activating the district-level dengue action meetings chaired by the district officer and attended by relevant stakeholders; increasing advocacy and promotion efforts through social media, leaflet distribution and public announcements at epidemic locations; as well as carrying out dengue-free programmes in schools, workplaces and homes.

Dr Siti Mariah said so far, no dengue-related vaccines had been registered for use in Malaysia, while the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency is still evaluating the application for approval of the Qdenga (TAK-003) vaccine from pharmaceutical company Takeda.

Halimey also asked about the status of MN Voltron, a solar-powered zapper to kill mosquitoes, which he said was installed in low-cost flats by the then Housing and Local Government Ministry sometime in 2019.

Dr Siti Mariah replied that her office was in the midst of getting the full data on the project, as it was a ministry project handed over to the JMB without consultation with the state health department.

Source:
courtesy of THE STAR

by JADE CHAN and JAROD LIM

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