by Melissa Kok
THE number of dengue cases has reached 'warning levels', but the
National Environment Agency (NEA) said it is far from the number
seen in the 2005 outbreak of the disease.
Last month, the weekly average number of cases hit 149, crossing
warning levels set by the Health Ministry (MOH). Last week, another
185 dengue cases were reported.
The MOH's Weekly Infectious Disease Bulletin, published online,
puts the warning level for dengue at 146 cases a week. An epidemic
level is reached at 191 cases a week.
Still, the number of cases now is much lower than in 2005, when
25 people died in Singapore's worst dengue outbreak. The warning
and epidemic levels back then were also higher, at 256 cases and
378 cases a week respectively.
The levels are based on the number of cases in the past five
years. The higher the number of previous cases, the higher the
levels are.
'Given that dengue cases have been relatively low in the past
years since the 2005 outbreak, this year's warning and epidemic
levels are at the lower end,' said an NEA spokesman in a statement
on Tuesday.