Penang Set To Close Schools In Dengue Outbreak Areas

PENANG, Sept 27 (Bernama) -- Penang is set to close all schools in areas where there is an outbreak of dengue fever once the Health Ministry reports on the status of the disease there, Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said Tuesday.
The report on the status of the outbreak was expected to be announced by the ministry in a day or two, he said.
While awaiting the report, the state government has begun various clean-up measures in high-risk dengue outbreak areas, he told reporters here.
Dengue haemorrhagic fever has claimed four lives in the state in the latest outbreak, the most recent being a seven-month pregnant woman from Teluk Kumbar.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein had said Monday that schools in high-risk dengue outbreak areas could close temporarily to check the spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, State Health, Welfare and Caring Society Committee Chairman P. Subbaiyah said clean up and fogging were being undertaken in high-risk dengue outbreak areas.
He identified these areas as Kampung Paya, Kampung Nelayan and Sungai Batu in Teluk Kumbar; Kampung Binjal in Bayan Lepas and Jalan Pantai Jerejak, Sungai Nibong and Persiaran Mayang Pasir in Bayan Baru.
"We have asked the people not to allow water to stagnate in their house compounds," he told reporters after the presentation of a cheque for RM20,000 by Agilent Technologies to Sekoleh Tunas Bakti, Teluk Air Tawar, here today.
He said officers from the State Health Department would make door-to-door inspections and would not hesitate to act against occupants whose houses are found to be breeding grounds for the Aedes mosquito, carrier of the dengue fever virus.
So far, inspections have been carried out at more than 240,000 premises in the state, and 612 premises had been issued compound fines and 372 had been given warnings.

In PUTRAJAYA, Health Minister Datuk Chua Soi Lek said he had ordered an increase in the number of special team personnel despatched to the Barat Daya District in Penang where the highest number of 121 cases among districts was registered in the current week.
He also said that the ministry would launch a large-scale anti-dengue campaign in Penang, Selangor, Johor and Kuala Lumpur where a high number of dengue fever cases had been recorded.
Chua said it was worrying that the number of deaths had gone up, from 68 for the whole of last year to 70 so far this year.
The minister said the government would not hesitate to use the Destruction of Disease-Bearing Insects Act 1975 to check the breeding of the Aedes mosquito at construction sites.
Any site found to be the breeding ground for the mosquitoes would be ordered to stop construction until the place had been rid of the insects and larvae, he told a news conference.

In KUALA LUMPUR, Director of the Schools Division in the Education Ministry, Salleh Mohd Husein, said all senior officers of state and district education departments had been instructed to visit schools to ensure that they were not breeding grounds for the Aedes mosquito.
He said in a statement that he had ordered all schools to ensure that their premises were free of mosquito-breeding places and to use "Abate" in any pool of water.
Principals and headmasters had been instructed to take immediate action if any student, staff or teacher had fever, he said.
He also said that schools could also undertake "gotong-royong" (self-help) activities to clean up their premises.