Dengue cases up from Sept 4 to 9 - Health D-G

Incidents of dengue for Sept 3 to 9 have gone up to 1,223 cases compared to 1,171 cases the previous week, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said, although the increase was insignificant, prevention and control measures must be promptly taken so that the trend of increase in cases at the end of the year, like prior to this, can be checked.

However, he said the cumulative total of dengue cases recorded had dropped by 11,171 cases to 66,906 cases compared to 78,077 cases in the same period last year.

"The number of deaths from dengue has also dropped by 27 cases whereby 149 deaths had been reported in the same period this year compared to 176 deaths in 2016," he said in a statement today.

Dr Noor Hisham said 438 locations of the dengue epidemic were reported in 14 states and 71 current locations of hotspots were recorded in six states.

In the meantime, he said, a Chikungunya case was recorded in the week in question in Sungai Udang, Yan, Kedah, making the overall cases of Chikungunya reported until Sept 9 this year at 255 cases, namely, Kedah (189), Selangor (33), Johor (24), Kelantan (seven) and Perak, two cases.

Dr Noor Hisham said the Zika virus surveillance system of the National Public Health Laboratory (MKAK) and the Medical Research Institute (IMR) found the results of 1,307 blood samples and 29 urine samples among patients exhibiting signs of the viral infection were negative as of Sept 9, - BERNAMA