Dengue fever cases on downward trend - Health DG

Dengue fever cases were on a downward trend in the three-week period from Oct 16 to Nov 5, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said 1,263 cases were reported from Oct 30 to Nov 5 compared to 1,353 cases the previous week, namely, a drop of 90 cases (6.7 per cent).

However, five states saw increase in cases compared to the previous week, namely, Pahang, Johor, Pulau Pinang, Perlis and Kedah.

"The cumulative number of dengue fever cases from January to Nov 5, 2016 is 90,506 cases and this indicates a drop of 12 per cent (12,295 cases) as compared to the same period in 2015 which had reported 102,801 cases," he said in a statement here on Saturday.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, there were six deaths reported from Oct 30 to Nov 5, making the cumulative deaths from dengue fever in Malaysia from January to Nov 5 at 208 as compared to 283 in 2015.

On the zika situation, Dr Noor Hisham said, according to the latest report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Nov 3, 73 nations had reported zika infections

In Malaysia, the number of positive zika cases stayed at seven as of Nov 5.

The National Public Health Laboratory (MKAK) and the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) also found 1,502 blood and urine sample tests from patients with symptoms of the virus zika, from June 2015 to Nov 5, to be negative. -- BERNAMA