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DPA
Bangkok
Singapore has confirmed 22,403 cases of dengue this year, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA), breaking the 2013 record of 22,170 cases.
In a Wednesday statement, the NEA warned of worse to come as the city-state remains “in the midst of the traditional dengue season,” which runs until October.
Nicknamed the “bone-breaker” due to the aches it induces, dengue fever is caused by a mosquito-borne virus and occasionally proves fatal, particularly in its relatively rare haemorrhagic form.
There have been 20 dengue-related deaths in Singapore in 2020, according to the Ministry of Health - seven fewer than the number dead after being infected with the novel coronavirus.
Singapore has diagnosed more than 53,000 cases of the coronavirus, almost all among foreign workers living in crowded dormitories. The Ministry of Health announced 908 new cases on Wednesday Singapore was put under lockdown for two months after coronavirus case numbers surged in late March.
The NEA said that the spike in dengue cases “coincided with the two-month circuit breaker period” as many people were forced to work from home - making them sitting ducks for bloodthirsty mosquitoes.
Singaporeans need to make an “urgent collective community effort” to rein in the outbreak, with 600,000 households living in “clusters” of the disease, the NEA said.
Bangkok
Singapore has confirmed 22,403 cases of dengue this year, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA), breaking the 2013 record of 22,170 cases.
In a Wednesday statement, the NEA warned of worse to come as the city-state remains “in the midst of the traditional dengue season,” which runs until October.
Nicknamed the “bone-breaker” due to the aches it induces, dengue fever is caused by a mosquito-borne virus and occasionally proves fatal, particularly in its relatively rare haemorrhagic form.
There have been 20 dengue-related deaths in Singapore in 2020, according to the Ministry of Health - seven fewer than the number dead after being infected with the novel coronavirus.
Singapore has diagnosed more than 53,000 cases of the coronavirus, almost all among foreign workers living in crowded dormitories. The Ministry of Health announced 908 new cases on Wednesday Singapore was put under lockdown for two months after coronavirus case numbers surged in late March.
The NEA said that the spike in dengue cases “coincided with the two-month circuit breaker period” as many people were forced to work from home - making them sitting ducks for bloodthirsty mosquitoes.
Singaporeans need to make an “urgent collective community effort” to rein in the outbreak, with 600,000 households living in “clusters” of the disease, the NEA said.
