Malaysia: Selangor going all out to fight dengue

The Star 23 Oct 16;

SHAH ALAM: Alarmed by the 45,013 dengue cases in Selangor that have resulted in 66 deaths so far this year, the state is on an all-out mission to combat the outbreak.

Selangor Housing Committee chairman Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad said the government was serious in its effort to clean up the state from the outbreak.

Iskandar said this during a joint anti-Aedes operation initiated by the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council at the Angsana Apartment in Pandan Indah yesterday.

He explained that the only way to combat dengue was for Malaysians to start being responsible for their neighbourhood by getting involved in cleaning up their drains and not adopt foreign workers’ culture of discarding rubbish everywhere.

“People’s attitudes need to change to ensure we have a clean and safe environment.

“MPAJ was chosen for the operation because it is the local council with the highest number of dengue cases.

“This year, MPAJ recorded 3,391 cases up to Oct 19 in which two areas – Angsana Apartment (13 cases) and Pandan Indah 940 apartment (19 cases) – were hotspots for dengue,” he said.

Meanwhile, Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh led a team of enforcement personnel from the Petaling Health Department, Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) and residents from USJ11 in a joint search-and-destroy Aedes mosquito operation.

She said the residents and the personnel were divided into 11 teams before they went around the area which had been one of the hotspots in Subang Jaya.

“The operation was concentrated mainly at the backlanes because residents have a tendency to dump all sorts of stuff there,” she said.

The fact that the backlanes were common properties, she added, required additional supervision because it would be difficult for the enforcement team to act on culprits who caused the Aedes breeding.