SINGAPORE — The dengue situation in the Republic’s prime shopping belt shows few signs of abating, as the number of infected people continued to inch up. As of last Friday, there were 86 cases in Orchard Road and its surrounding area, making the vicinity the second-largest dengue cluster.

The authorities had identified the Orchard Gateway construction site near 313@Somerset as the source of the dengue outbreak in the area.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a National Environment Agency (NEA) spokesperson noted that 53 of the cases were workers at the construction site, most of whom were infected in the earlier part of the outbreak. It added that the more recent cases linked to this site were “people working or living in the vicinity”. At the nearby Devonshire cluster, seven of the 10 cases were construction site workers and the remaining three were residents.

A check by TODAY over the weekend found that there were hardly any public education efforts in the area — in contrast to the extensive anti-dengue campaign in residential estates, which includes putting up banners or posters and distributing pamphlets.

Most tourists TODAY spoke to had no idea there was a dengue outbreak. However, employers had instructed service staff — some of whom had witnessed colleagues being struck down by the disease — to take precautions.

A Chinese tourist, who wished to be known only as Ms Yan, said: “Looking at the number of people walking around, the situation doesn’t look very serious.”

At Orchard Central, pushcart stall assistant Ng Xiaohui, 21, has taken to wearing long sleeves and carrying a bottle of insect repellent to work. She said: “We only started becoming more cautious about two weeks ago, when a colleague came down with high fever. We suspected it was dengue fever.”

The shopping centre’s concierge, Mr Limbu, 28, said its management has engaged a company to conduct weekly pest-control. Mosquito patches and insect repellent have also been distributed to the staff.

The Orchard Road cluster is bounded by *SCAPE Youth Park and *SCAPE Skate Park, extending south to include Chatsworth International School and shopping centres such as 313@Somerset and The Centrepoint.

Senior Minister of State (Education and Law) Indranee Rajah, who is the Member of Parliament for the area, said the River Valley Neighbourhood Committee had also identified the area around Eber Road, Dublin Road and Oxley Rise as potential risk areas as there were several dengue cases there. Door-to-door outreach to homes and shophouses was conducted on Oct 26.

On the lack of public education efforts in the commercial areas, Ms Indranee said the NEA is working with the relevant parties. She said: “The most important thing was to make sure that there’s no water ponding, to clear up all the waterlogged areas and … making sure that people don’t leave stagnant water around.”

She added: “It’ll be a little bit strange standing in the middle of Orchard Road giving out flyers. And it’s not all hours of the day when the mosquitos will bite.” Aedes mosquitoes are most active at dusk and dawn. The original article stated that Aedes mosquitoes are most active at night between dusk and dawn. This is incorrect. Aedes mosquitoes are most active at dawn and dusk. This article was edited at 6:06pm on Nov 18.

The NEA spokesperson said the agency has “intensified its inspections in the Orchard Road area, as well as a wider zone around it”. “All buildings ... as well as construction sites are being checked. The NEA will also continue with the use of insecticides through fogging and misting to kill infected mosquitoes,” she said.

In all, there were 358 new dengue infection cases last week, as at 3.30pm last Friday. This brings the total number of reported cases here to 19,501. Currently, the largest cluster is in the Bedok area, which has 155 cases.