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So Far, More People Have Died from Dengue Than COVID-19 This Year in S’pore

2020-11-20 , 9:04 am

It’s official.

Covid-19 might’ve brought the entire country, and world, to a standstill but Singapore’s fighting a war on multiple fronts.

We have an ongoing war against sugar, one against Covid-19 and finally, one we’ve been fighting for a really long time: Dengue.

So do your mozzie wipeout because it’s official:

So Far, More People Have Died from Dengue Than COVID-19 This Year

On 19 Nov 2020, it was reported that 29 people have died due to dengue this year by end-September.

This makes 1 more death than Covid-19, which, as the latest figures showed, has 28 people who died due to complications from Covid-19.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) refused to shed light on whether there are any more dengue deaths since end-Sep till now, citing the fact that the number of deaths is reported every quarter of the year.

Worst Dengue Epidemic

South Korea had rolled out a national vaccination exercise, hoping to prevent a twindemic (two epidemics happening at the same time).

Meanwhile, in Singapore, we’ve actually been experiencing the twindemic for months now.

According to The Straits Times, Singapore has experienced the worst dengue epidemic ever with more people infected and dead from the disease.

Here’s the chart for weekly reported cases on NEA’s website (The red line is this year’s):

So far, about 34,000 people have been diagnosed with dengue, more than 50% higher compared to previous years.

And the worst part is: it could be more.

More Than 100,000 Possibly Infected

According to Associate Professor Hsu Liyang, the Programme Leader for Infectious Diseases at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, only about 20% of people infected with dengue will see a doctor and be properly diagnosed.

So in reality, it could be 100,000 people infected with dengue in Singapore this year.

And similar to Covid-19, even if not diagnosed, these infected would still have a chance to pass on the disease to others when bitten by mosquitoes which then proceed to bite other people.

Warnings Unheeded

The dengue season peaked in July 2020 with 1,792 cases reported in one week.

It has been gradually falling since and last week, 355 cases were reported.

Despite multiple warnings by the NEA, officers who were deployed to inspect homes and public areas still found multiple mosquito breeding grounds.

Between July 2020 and Sep 2020, 6,800 breeding spots were detected.

The most common areas are containers at home and discarded receptacles in public places.

Things Might Get Better

It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as there’s some good news.

First, the dengue season is coming to an end as the hot and wet months from May to Oct comes to a close.

It was also made known that the number of people infected by DenV-3 has fallen.

Because DenV-3 has been gone for a decade, fewer people in Singapore don’t have immunity against that particular strain of dengue.

You can read up more about it here if you’re interested.

Nonetheless, it’s not the time to let down your guard since, according to the NEA figures, the weekly number of dengue cases remains high even though it has fallen.

“It’s still about two times more than the number of cases seen in the corresponding period averaged over the past three years”.

Here’s how NEA’s map of clusters looks like so far:

According to their website, there are 99 active clusters in Singapore right now.

So do the mozzie wipeout when you can.

If you’re wondering why you’re always the one who’s bitten by a mosquito, watch this video to the end (and please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos!):

Featured Image: jipatafoto89 / Shutterstock.com