Dengue cases rise in first week of January, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: A total of 3,181 dengue cases were recorded for the first week of this year, showing an increase compared to the same period in 2023, said Datuk Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan.

The Health director-general said that this represented an increase of 962 cases compared to the 2,219 cases recorded for the same period last year.

"No deaths were reported due to complications reported for the first epidemiology week of this year compared to one death reported for the same period in 2023," he said in a statement on Saturday (Jan 13).

He said the number of dengue hotspots had decreased to 130 localities compared to 131 the previous week.

He said that Selangor recorded the highest number of dengue hotspots with 100 localities.

Others hotspots were in the Federal Territory and Putrajaya (14), Perak (7), Negri Sembilan (4), Sabah (2), Sarawak (2) and Kedah (1).

Meanwhile, Dr Muhammad Radzi said that the nation is not facing a chikungunya epidemic as only one case was reported for the first week of this year.

As for the Zika virus, he said that tests were carried out on 18 blood samples which returned negative.

He advised members of the public to keep their homes and surroundings clean and free of unwanted trash.

He said this is crucial as the Aedes mosquito requires clean stagnant water to breed.

Last week, Dr Muhammad Radzi said there was a 86.3% spike in the number of dengue cases in 2023, compared to the previous year.

A total of 123,133 dengue fever cases were recorded last year, a significant increase of 57,031 cases compared to the 66,102 cases in 2022.