GEORGE TOWN: Penang has recorded nine dengue deaths between Jan 1 and Nov 20 this year.
State Health Committee chairman Daniel Gooi said the state recorded 6,720 dengue cases until the 47th epidemiology week of 2023.
"Seberang Prai Tengah district recorded the highest number of cases at 3,286, followed by Seberang Prai Selatan (1,175), northeast (1,160), southwest (660) and Seberang Prai Utara (439)," he said in his winding up speech at the state legislative assembly sitting here this afternoon.
Gooi said the state government carried out various efforts to combat dengue fever by mobilising the Dengue Special Task Force Committee to strengthen cooperation between the agencies concerned in the control of dengue fever at the district- and state-levels.
Among the efforts is the Communication for Behavioral Impact (COMBI) programme.
"One of the important strategies is to empower and mobilise the community in carrying out dengue fever prevention and control activities.
"We have also increased the number of gotong royong programmes this year with 563 events as compared to last year's 117 events. This is an almost a five-fold increase."
Gooi said at the same time, enforcement actions were taken according to the provisions of the law.
He said 2022 witnessed 1,757 notices and 1,063 compounds issued.
"This year, 2,302 notices and 1,786 compounds were issued," he said.