JOHOR BARU: The number of dengue cases in Johor has seen a slight drop in epidemiology week 22 (ME22) compared to last week, says state health and unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon.
He said that a total of 247 cases were reported during ME22 (May 28 to June 3), a drop of 3.1% compared to ME21 where 255 cases were reported.
"Johor Baru recorded the most number of cases with 211, which is 85.4% of the total number of cases reported in ME22.
"This was followed by Kulai with 10 cases, Muar (six), Kota Tinggi (five), Batu Pahat (five), Kluang (three), two each in Pontian, Tangkak and Mersing as well as one case in Segamat," he said in a statement on Monday (June 5).
He said that a cumulative total of 3,642 dengue cases had been recorded in Johor this year, an increase of 343.1% compared to the corresponding period last year with 822 cases reported.
"One death was reported in ME22, bringing the total number of deaths to seven this year," he said, adding that no deaths were reported during the same period last year.
He also said more than 2,000 compound notices have been issued this year to premises statewide where Aedes mosquitoes were found breeding.
"Health Department enforcement officers have issued a total of 2,530 compound notices amounting to RM1.215mil. Of that number, about 58.8% have paid for the compounds.
"The discovery of Aedes breeding grounds shows that there was still a lack of awareness among the public on dengue fever.
"We urge the public to take 10 minutes of their time each day to search for and destroy Aedes breeding grounds around their homes and workplaces," he said.
On a separate matter, Ling said statistics showed Johor did not record a drastic increase in Covid-19 cases in recent months and hospital bed usage was still under 5.0%.
"There are a total of 105 active cases within the past seven days where 63 are being quarantined at home, 39 are being warded in the hospital and three are in the intensive care unit," he said.
He said that as of Saturday (June 3), Johor has reported a total of 411 Covid-19 cases due to the XBB subvariant.
"Malaysia has reported several Covid-19 Omicron subvariants, which are BA.5.2 and BF.7. In Johor, we have detected a total of 476 cases of the BA.5.2 subvariant between May 29 last year and June 3 this year. However, we have yet to detect any subvariant BF.7 so far," he said.
Meanwhile, Ling said the number of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases in Johor has recorded an increase in ME22 where a total of 320 cases were reported compared to 243 cases in the previous week.
"Cumulatively, a total of 1,656 HMFD case have been recorded in Johor as of ME22 this year. Johor Baru recorded the most number of cases with 607 cases.
"This was followed by Tangkak with 204 cases, Kota Tinggi (167), Batu Pahat (144), Kluang (136), Segamat (121), Pontian (104), Kulai (101), Muar (67) and Mersing (five)," he said.
