By Jaythaleela K
MIRI, Oct 8: Miri City Council (MCC) has advised the people, especially those residing in Taman Tunku and Tudan areas, to be on the alert and taking precautionary actions against dengue outbreak in the city.
Mayor Adam Yii said the precautionary actions included to ensure households and house compounds are clean, neat and tidy, as well as ensuring no clear standing water collected in any receptacles or containers as mosquito breeding ground
He issued the statement today in response to state Health director Dr Jamilah Hashim, who was reported as saying that there have been 248 cases of dengue reported in Miri district, with one fatality.
“The situation is becoming alarming. On the part of the city council, we have formed the MCC Dengue Outbreak Group on Aug 16 to tackle the dengue problems. Actions taken by MCC included drain flushing and actions against illegal extensions at Taman Tunku,” he said.
A gotong-royong campaign together with the Health Department and other government agencies and NGOs to clean up Taman Tunku was carried out on Sept 7, while drains flushing operations is ongoing, he continued.
He added that MCC will carry out a gotong-royong campaign at Tudan. The council will continue to give high priority to combat dengue problem by allocating more resources to the affected areas.
“Dengue is becoming a perennial problem with seasonal occurrence annually. Collective efforts will be needed to successfully control dengue.
“To put this problem in perspective, it is reported that there are more than 8,000 reported cases of dengue in Singapore in the first quarter of 2019,” Yii said. — DayakDaily
