Weekly cases soar as 18 at Balestier site hit, but Jan overall figures down
Jessica Jaganathan, Straits Times 5 Feb 10;
Mosquito larvae similar to these were spotted at the construction site along Akyab Road. They were found in a puddle and in a septic tank. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
DENGUE numbers shot up to 131 cases last week from 75 the week before, creating a new high for the year.
A construction site in the Balestier area which contributed partly to the 75 per cent increase has since been fined $2,000, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).
The site along Akyab Road had two spots breeding mosquitoes - 50 larvae were wriggling in a ground puddle and another 50, in a septic tank.
Eighteen construction workers from China and Bangladesh there had come down with dengue fever.
An NEA spokesman noted that this cluster of dengue victims, which started on Jan 28, is the biggest so far this year.
She added, however, that the Balestier site has been satisfactorily maintained since then, so the cluster is expected to be declared closed next Tuesday if no fresh dengue cases surface between now and that deadline.
NEA officers have been deployed to seek out and destroy breeding sites in that neighbourhood.
A firm caught breeding mosquitoes a second time could be dealt a heftier fine of $4,000.
Contacted by The Straits Times, a project manager of the firm, who wanted to be known only as Mr Yap, denied at first that the place was a dengue cluster.
He later admitted that some workers had come down with fever and that the firm was cooperating with the NEA by stepping up pest-control measures.
Island-wide, 379 dengue cases surfaced last month, down from 621 for the same period last year.
Mosquito breeding at construction sites is also down. The number of firms fined or warned last year dropped to 908 from 1,273 the year before.
Before the Balestier cluster developed, the last construction site found hosting a large dengue cluster was in Chay Yan Street in Tiong Bahru last year - 36 people there came down with dengue.
NEA urges the public to remain vigilant against mosquito breeding by removing all potential water-bearing containers from their premises.
