by Rosli Mansor
The area under the administration of the Ipoh City Council (MBI) has recorded an increase in the number of dengue cases, with 412 cases reported until October 23 (Week: 42).
The mayor of Ipoh, Dato’ Rumaizi Baharin @ Md Daud, said the increase was 174.7 percent compared to 150 cases for the same period last year.
He said that one of the factors of the situation was due to the recent continuous rainy season that hit the country in general and Perak in particular.
“Dengue fever cases in the MBI administrative area have shown an increase since the beginning of 2022.
“From September 17 to October 11, no outbreak was reported, but due to continuous rain, dengue cases started to increase.
“It has been reported that two localised outbreaks are under control, namely Taman Arkid (3 cases) expected to end on November 4 and Taman Pengkalan Perdana (4 cases) expected to end on November 8.
“Everyone is aware that the annual rainfall has increased and this is one of the factors in the increase in dengue fever cases.
“If possible, we want to raise awareness and advise the public that when it rains, to quickly dispose of stagnant water to avoid aedes mosquitoes from breeding,” he said.
Rumaizi said this when speaking at the October Full Council Meeting at the MBI Meeting Hall on Monday.
In the meantime, he said the involvement of Council Members and community leaders in field activities before had greatly helped curb the spread of dengue cases.
“The dengue and chikungunya awareness programme spread through the mass media, including social media and MBI radio, has also helped a lot in curbing dengue cases.
“Efforts implemented by all parties to deal with dengue outbreaks are expected to be continued and improved so that the density of Aedes mosquitoes will be as low as possible at all times,” he added.
Rumaizi hopes that the involvement of all parties, individuals, communities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as a whole can help in the effort to reduce cases of dengue fever.
