JOHOR BARU: The Health Ministry is roping in the army and local municipal councils for a nationwide clean-up at dengue-prone areas on Oct 24.
Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the initiative was conducted to address the dengue menace and to destroy breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes.
The initiative is targeted at abandoned land and empty lots which are known as breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes.
"It will be a major event that will combine soldiers from the army camps and the local councils. It will be conducted simultaneously nationwide, and will be focused on abandoned land and empty lots and other areas which are known as Aedes breeding grounds.
"This is a massive clean up event and it is being done to create awareness to the people. The people have to comply with health regulations when it comes to dengue prevention. Many people have this mentality that mosquitoes only bite their neighbours and will not bite them," he said prior to opening a special Johor MIC convention at Berjaya Waterfront Hotel, here.
The New Straits Times had reported on Sept 21 that the number of dengue cases recorded in Malaysia was currently at 87,812, with 234 deaths.
This figure was based on statistics provided by the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) as mentioned in the Health Ministry's iDengue website.
Selangor heads the chart, followed by Johor (10,661 cases), Perak (7,477), Kuala Lumpur (5,690), Penang (3,868) and Kelantan (1,964).
Director-general of Health Department Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had also said that from Sept 6 to 12, there were 2,604 cases of dengue recorded in the country, showing an increase of 16.8 per cent compared with the previous week
On a separate matter, Subramaniam said the haze this year had been one of the worst the country experienced as it led to losses in terms of economy and affected schools. He said the haze had also caused a spike in respiratory illnesses.