Nine cases of death from dengue on March 9-15

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the latest deaths, involved six women, aged between 25 and 54, and three men, aged 36 and 62, and a 15-year-old student.

"Five of the cases took place in Selangor, followed by two in Johor and one each in Perak and Kelantan," he said in a statement on Friday. Dr Subramaniam said dengue cases nation-wide had gone up to 1,902 in the period March 9-15, namely, the 11th week dengue was monitored, compared to 1,630 the previous week. "From January to March 15 this year, a total 21,967 cases were reported, an increase of 321 percent or 16,746 cases compared to 5,221 cases in the same period last year," said Dr Subramaniam.

He said the serotype DEN 2 virus was among the factors in the increase number of deaths from dengue.

"The serotype DEN 2 viral infection will give a worse clinical manifestation and have a higher risk of complication compared to infections from other serotypes," he said.

He said 458 localities of the epidemic was reported in 12 states with 84 localities being categorised as hotspots involved in epidemics of more than a month.

A total of 70 hotspots were in Selangor, namely, in Hulu Langat (32), Petaling (32), Gombak (five) and Klang (one).