Dengue cases on the rise again

SINGAPORE — The weekly number of dengue cases rebounded last week after falling for four consecutive weeks. The number of cases as of Saturday was 547, up from 483 the week before. As of Tuesday, there were another 151 cases.

Parts of Choa Chu Kang continued to be hot spots, with 532 cases in one cluster as of Tuesday. A total of 53 breeding habitats were recorded in a cluster that included Choa Chu Kang Avenues 2, 3 and 5. Twenty-four were found in homes, 21 were in public places such as a discarded incense bin and eight were in construction sites. A second site in Choa Chu Kang had 225 cases, with most of the breeding sites found in homes.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) had previously warned that more cases were being seen in the northern and western parts of Singapore. Other areas on red alert — high-risk areas with 10 or more cases — included Paya Lebar with a cluster of 205 cases stretching across Circuit Link to Pipit Road, and another 63 cases around Happy Avenue Central and MacPherson Road.

The cluster comprising College Avenue East and College Avenue West, where the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) University Town is located, remained a hot spot with 16 cases. A contractor for the Yale-NUS Campus was issued a stop-work order last week after the area was declared a high-risk cluster.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there have been 12,932 reported cases of dengue this year, with two dengue deaths — one in January and one last month.

In Parliament last week, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said a highly-anticipated vaccine being developed for dengue is not effective against the strain dominant here — DEN-1.

In an advisory on its dengue website, the NEA said: “The number of dengue cases remains high and the NEA advises all stakeholders to stay vigilant as we are still in the peak dengue season.” This means taking care to remove stagnant water from the environment — such as inverting pails and changing water in vases regularly — and seeing a doctor early for a diagnosis when one is showing symptoms of the illness.