Residents urged to keep Zika at bay during holidays

SINGAPORE — With the June school holidays around the corner and the earliest date for Watten Estate — where Singapore’s first Zika patient lives — to get the all-clear from the authorities still a month away, the area’s residents have been urged to remain vigilant and take precautions against potential mosquito sites while they are away on vacation.

Speaking to media on the sidelines of her door-to-door visits in Watten Estate yesterday evening, Ms Sim Ann, the Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, pointed to the outreach and vector control efforts by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and grassroots leaders, adding that such a level of vigilance needs to be maintained.

Although the first Zika patient has been discharged from hospital, the NEA and Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a joint statement last Friday that there remains a possibility of secondary infection resulting from Singapore’s first imported case.

Ms Sim said: “We want to encourage our residents to take the necessary precautions before they leave home so as to ensure that mosquitos won’t be breeding in their absence. If our residents are going to an area that has got local Zika transmission, we encourage them to take the necessary precautions like applying insect repellent.”

Since the first Zika case was diagnosed on May 13, NEA officers and grassroots leaders have reached out to at least 1,000 households to date, said Mr Fong Kwok Shiung, chairman of the Watten Neighbourhood Committee. “Generally, I found the residents were receptive, they were actually quite understanding of the situation and they knew the things we needed to do (like) fogging ... and misting,” he said.

Watten Estate residents TODAY spoke to generally said they were not too alarmed after finding out about the first imported Zika case in their neighbourhood, but had started taking extra precautions.

Mrs Shan Chia, who recently moved back to Singapore after a year in New Zealand, said she was more conscious about using insect repellent on her two young daughters.

“The way the Government has stepped up just gives the residents peace of mind,” she said, referring to the NEA’s prompt response the day after the imported Zika case was reported.