KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 ― Dengue cases have been on the rise, with 3,337 cases recorded in the first week of the year compared to the average 2,300 cases weekly last year.

This, according to The Star today, translates to one case every three minutes.

The local English daily also reported that the 45 per cent increase could go up even higher to 50 per cent because of the El Nino phenomena causing the heat wave.

“With the hot weather, the life cycle of Aedes mosquitoes, from eggs to adulthood will be shortened to seven days and this will increase the mosquito population during the period,” Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was quoted saying yesterday.

The Star reported that the number of dengue outbreak locations has increased to 1,044 compared to 907 the week before. The number of hotspots also rose from 145 to 161 involving Selangor (122), Johor (22), Perak (8), Penang (4), Sabah (2), Negri Sembilan (2) and the Federal Territories (1).

According to The Star, 120,836 dengue cases were reported last year, registering an 11.2 per cent increase from 108,698 cases in 2014.