KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — The number of dengue fever cases for the period Feb 18 to 24 showed a rise of 52 cases compared to the previous week, said Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said a total of 1,224 cases were recorded for the period compared with 1,172 cases during the previous week.
However, he said the cumulative total for dengue cases recorded declined by 5,441 cases to 9,072 cases compared with 14,513 cases for the corresponding period last year.
“As for fatalities due to dengue fever, a total of 20 deaths were recorded for the period , compared with 40 deaths recorded in 2017, a drop of 20 cases (50 per cent),”he said in a statement yesterday.
Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 383 localities for dengue cases were reported in 11 states and 136 hotspot localities in four states.
Meanwhile, he said one case of chikungunya was recorded during the week under review in Sik, Kedah, with the number of chikungunya cases reported up to Feb 24 this year totalling 37 cases of which 31 cases were in Kelantan, two in Kedah and one each in Perlis, Selangor, Sarawak and Sabah
Dr Noor Hisham said that as at Feb 24 this year, the surveillance system monitoring for the Zika virus by the National Public Health Laboratory and the Institute of Medical Research found that the test results for 278 blood samples among patients demonstrating zika virus infection were negative. — Bernama
