KOTA KINABALU, Jan 6 — Sabah Health Department yesterday informed that 6,983 dengue cases were reported until the 52 Epidemiology week (ME-52).
This signifies a drop of 1.8 per cent compared to 7,110 cases in 2022, said Sabah Health Department director, Datuk Dr Asits Sanna.
He said in a statement that his department also reported 11 deaths due to the dengue fever with a death rate of 0.16 per cent involving eight districts which are three in Sandakan, two in Kunak and one each in Papar, Semporna, Kudat, Nabawan, Putatan and Tuaran.
“This signifies a 10 per cent hike compared to the same period in 2022 whereby 10 deaths occurred due to the dengue fever complication,” he said.
Based on information from the Malaysia Meteorology Department, rainfall due to the northeast monsoon from January to Febuary this year is expected.
Hence, the public is urged to take precautionary steps, among them finding and destroying mosquitoes breeding area around their premises every 10 minutes per week.
Aside from that, he also urged the public to protect themselves from mosquito bites and to use mosquito repellents and aerosol when mosquitoes are most active in the morning (5am-7am) and late evening (5pm-7pm), and to seek early treatment from any health facility if experiencing dengue fever symptoms such as fever, joint/bone/muscle ache, excessive headache, and pain at the back of their eyes.
Latest information is available at https://idengue.mysa.gov.my/.
“Don’t ignore dengue danger, or death awaits. No Aedes, no dengue, chikungunya and zika,” he said. — Borneo Post
