KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — Malaysia recorded 11 deaths from dengue in January 2018, which was the lowest in three years for the same period, Health Ministry data showed.
For the first four weeks this year which started from December 31 2017 to January 27 2018, the Health Ministry said there were 11 dengue deaths, which it noted was 42.1 per cent lower than the same period in 2017.
According to past data from the ministry’s National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), 19 dengue deaths were recorded in the first four weeks of 2017, which is also lower than the 32 deaths recorded in the same period in 2016.
The total dengue cases recorded during this period was also the lowest when compared to the same period in 2016 and 2017.
“Based on the observation by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, the cumulative number of Dengue cases which have been reported until 27th January 2018 were 4,410 cases, a reduction by 3,040 cases (40.8per cent), compared to 7,450 cases in the year 2017 in the same period,” the CPRC wrote in its latest weekly update on dengue that was posted on its official Facebook page.
The number of cases have also been on the decline for this period, with the 13,831 cases in the first four weeks of 2016 previously almost halved to 7,450 cases in the same period in 2017.
This appears to be in line with the annual trend in recent years, with Malaysia recording an annual decline in the number of dengue cases and deaths caused by dengue.
This was after Malaysia first experienced a huge spike in 2014 with 108,698 cases and 215 deaths and in 2015 with 120,836 cases and 336 deaths. The big jump in figures then was due to a change in the predominant strain of dengue virus locally to a more virulent strain.
The upward trend was reversed in 2016, where dengue cases declined to 101,357 and the number of dengue deaths went down to 237.
In 2017, the number of cases fell further to 83,849, with a lower number of dengue deaths recorded at 177.
