As of Monday (Feb 1), one of the active clusters is in the Tampines area, with 267 cases since the start of the cluster.
Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 2 Feb 16;
As of Monday, one of the active clusters is in the Tampines area, with 267 cases since the start of the cluster. This is followed by some areas near Little India - such as Sing Avenue and Joo Avenue - with 108 cases, and in Pasir Ris, with 106 cases. Many of the cases were in Block 112 and 129 in Pasir Ris Street 11.
The Member of Parliament for the area is concerned about this and measures have been taken to try and stem the spread of the disease.
"Most of the mosquito breeding sites are actually found within the homes, so during my house visits with the grassroots leaders, I try to emphasise to the residents some of the areas they may have missed out, for example ... the area behind the toilet bowl,” said MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, Mr Zainal Sapari.
“We engaged our pest control contractor to check everywhere, the roof, the drains and instead of doing it once every week, we are doing it twice weekly now," he added.
One pest control company said there has been a 60 per cent increase in the number of enquiries it received in January 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. Many are about dengue prevention.
"The reason for this is due to the recent outbreak of Zika-related diseases in Latin America,” said Mr Chan Hiang Hao, the operations excellence manager of Rentokil. “Although there are no Zika-related diseases in Singapore, Aedes (mosquitoes) in Singapore do transmit dengue, which may be deadly."
NEA said the spike in dengue cases could be due to a change in the main circulating dengue virus. The mosquito population has also increased, due to warmer weather. NEA called on the public to prevent the spread of dengue by removing mosquito breeding sites.
Majority of these are found in homes, especially in containers and flower pot trays with stagnant water. NEA said this is of concern, especially during the Chinese New Year period when people buy and display festive plants.
- CNA/ek
