Dengue cases up in Johor, says exco

JOHOR BARU: The number of cumulative dengue cases in Johor in epidemiology week 42 (ME42) went up to 8,442 cases, says state Health and Unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon.

He said this represented a 206% increase compared to the 2,755 recorded in the corresponding period in 2022.

Ling added that 3,432 (40.7%) of the 8,442 cases are related to clusters while 5,010 cases (59.3%) are cases not attributed to any cluster.

“However, the number of new dengue fever cases as of Monday (Oct 23) declined from the 239 recorded in ME41 to 209 in ME42,’’ Ling said in a statement on Monday (Oct 23).

He said from the 209 cases, Johor Baru district has the highest (160), followed by Kulai (15), Batu Pahat, Kluang and Segamat with six cases each.

Ling then added that Pontian has four, Tangkak has two cases, while Muar and Mersing have one case each.

He said there were three deaths in ME42, bringing the total number of cumulative deaths from ME01 to ME41 to 18, compared with one death in the same period last year.

“We have issued 4,759 compound notices totalling RM2.31mil so far this year to premises owners found to be breeding mosquitoes, and 63.9% paid the fines,’’ said Ling.

On the Covid-19 situation, he said there were 400,979 cumulative cases in Johor as of Saturday (Oct 21) of which 397,913 were local infections while 3,066 were imported cases.

“Currently, 13 Covid-19 patients are being treated in hospitals and no patients have been admitted to the intensive care unit,’’ said Ling.

He said Johor did not record a drastic increase in Covid-19 cases for the past few months, and bed usage at hospitals in the state for Covid-19 patients was below 1%.

Ling added the state recorded 492 cases of Covid-19 XXB subvariant as of Oct 21, with 272 cases in Johor Baru, followed by Muar (61), Kulai (41), Batu Pahat (35), Kluang (25), Kota Tinggi (24), Pontian (16), Tangkak (14), Segamat (three) and one in Mersing.

“The Covid-19 situation in Johor is under control although there are cases caused by the Covid-19 subvariant XXB in the state,’’ he said.

Ling also advised those who have not received the booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to immediately register and get the vaccine to protect themselves and their families.