67% increase in dengue fever nationwide

The total number of dengue fever cases rose by 67 percent from January to Nov 9 this year compared to the same period last year.

Deputy health director-general (Public Health) Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said, there were 31,170 dengue fever cases reported for the period, 67 percent higher than 18,679 cases last year.

Dengue fatalities also increased to 63 this year compared to 32 deaths for the same period last year, he said in a statement here yesterday.

Lokman said there were 412 localities with dengue fever infection at the moment with 79 hotspots found only in Selangor.

"The dengue hotspots are in four districts in the state namely 38 localities in Petaling district, 30 localities in Hulu Langat district, nine localities in Gombak district and two localities in Sepang district," he said.

He said between Nov 3 and Nov 9 last week, there were 1,416 dengue cases reported nationwide with seven states showing more cases compared to the previous week.

"In Perlis, there were five more cases, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (34 cases), Negeri Sembilan (6 cases), Sarawak (3 cases), Terengganu (2 cases), Kedah (1 case) and Johor five cases," he said.

He said the people have been reminded to keep their surroundings free of dengue breeding grounds.