The death toll from dengue fever in the country has dropped to 40 cases until Feb 25, compared to 54 reported in the corresponding period in 2016, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the cumulative cases from January to Feb 25 stood at 14,513, compared to 25,403 cases for the same period last year.

"Locality monitoring for the dengue fever outbreak shows 678 localities are still experiencing active epidemic with 94 hotspots, involving five states namely in Selangor (69 localities), Perak (15 localities), Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (four localities) and three localities each in Johor and Negeri Sembilan," he said in a statement here Sunday.

Dr Noor Hisham said the people who were in the affected areas were encouraged to use aerosol sprays, other than to cooperate with health department personnel to carry out fogging to eradicate aedes mosquitoes.

He also said there were 50 positive cases of Chikungunya reported between Feb 15 and March 2, namely 36 cases in Baling, Kedah, and 14 cases in Gombak, Selangor.

Among the symptoms of Chikungunya were fever, rashes on the feet, hands and body, body aches or joint pain, headaches and conjunctivitis.

In cases of Zika, Dr Noor Hisham said virus surveillance monitoring by the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) and Institute for Medical Research (IMR) from Jan 1 to Feb 25 found the test results over 235 samples of blood and urine were negative.

"Given the transmission of dengue, chikungunya and zika is through the same vector namely aedes mosquitoes, members of the public are urged to step up prevention efforts such as cleaning homes, premises and aedes breeding places," said Dr Noor Hisham adding that immediate treatment was necessary if one experienced symptoms such as rashes and joint pain. -- Bernama