SINGAPORE — Although the number of dengue cases in Singapore has been on the wane since June, it has picked up in recent weeks, National Environment Agency (NEA) said.

From August 18 to 24, there were 341 cases reported. The number increased in the following week (August 25 to 31) with 386 cases reported.

Grace Fu, Second Minster for the Environment and Water Resources, said: “In the last two weeks, we’ve seen an increase of about 10 to 15 per cent. It’s important for us to focus our attention on fighting dengue again because the clusters that are happening are actually occurring in areas that have been spared so far. The immunity of the people here to the disease is low.”

There were 382 dengue cases from September 1 to 6, and the National Environment Agency (NEA) expects this week’s total number to exceed last week’s.

The NEA highlighted four locations where a general increase in dengue cases was observed. They are Rivervale, Toa Payoh, Bishan and Jurong West.

There are currently four clusters in Jurong.

Ms Fu, who is also MP for Yuhua SMC, visited one of the clusters at Jurong East Street 21 on Saturday to remind residents to be vigilant.

The largest cluster is in Jurong West Avenue 1 and Jurong West Street 42 where there are nine cases.

The other active clusters are Bukit Batok East Avenue 5, Jurong East Street 21 and Jurong West Street 52.

To keep the problem in check, NEA officers have been visiting the four Jurong clusters daily to remove breeding habitats.

They have removed three so far, including a plastic pail and a flower vase. The third is a closed perimeter drain.

The NEA said it conducted four million home inspections between January and August, an 11 per cent increase over the same period in 2012.

More than 7,000 breeding habitats were removed in the process.

It added that more officers are being deployed to dengue clusters to remove as many breeding grounds as possible, and that daily inspections by officers will continue. CHANNEL NEWSASIA