By Norrasyidah Arshad
SHAH ALAM, April 25 — The public health practices carried out during the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have also managed to reduce the number of dengue fever cases, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said during the first and second phases of the Movement Control Order’s implementation in 2021, dengue fever recorded the lowest number of cases in the past five years.
“Public health actions including staying at home and not going out proved effective. When at home people clean their residences and are not exposed to infections from mosquitoes since they do not go out.
“This is an improvement that we can use. Neighbouring countries also recorded similar reductions in cases,” Dr Noor Hisham said during the online engagement session on the Covid-19 pandemic’s excess mortality management earlier today.
On January 31, the director-general said approximately 26,365 dengue cases were reported throughout last year involving 20 deaths.
The number is indicative of a 70.8 per cent reduction compared to the year before that, which recorded 90,304 dengue cases and 145 deaths.
