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There are between 200 to 300 dengue cases in Singapore weekly currently, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Dec. 5, indicating that a surge is likely to happen going into the new year.

These figures are considered "still high" for this time of the year, NEA added, even though weekly numbers have declined about 80 per cent from a peak in May 2022, when they hit a high of 1,568.

In comparison, there were about one-fifth fewer cases on average for the same period from 2019 to 2021.

The total number of dengue cases reported in 2022 as of Dec. 2 is 30,969.

This was about 90 per cent of the number of cases recorded in 2020, but almost six times the total number of cases recorded in the whole of 2021, NEA added.

Dengue cases hit a record high of 35,315 cases in 2020, but went down to 5,258 in 2021.

High year-end number of cases

NEA said Singapore could enter 2023 with "an atypically large number of dengue cases" given the high number of dengue cases at the end of 2022.

This was the situation in 2019 and 2021 when high year-end dengue numbers preceded large outbreaks in Singapore, NEA said.

NEA also urged members of the public to "mosquito-proof" their homes before travelling during this year-end holiday period.

It said it continues to work closely with grassroots advisers and community volunteers to advise residents on dengue prevention efforts.

Majority of dengue clusters have closed

As of Dec. 2, about 97 per cent of dengue clusters -- 2,959 out of 3,028 -- have closed.

There are 69 dengue clusters remaining.

Clusters with a relatively fast rate of dengue transmission have continued to surface though.

They include a 37-case cluster at Pasir Ris Street 71 and 19-case one at Jurong East Avenue 1.

Enforcement action carried out

From January to November 2022, NEA conducted about 841,000 dengue inspections islandwide, including about 5,200 checks at construction sites.

About 21,300 Aedes mosquito breeding habitats were uncovered.

During the same period, NEA issued fines to 3,500 households for mosquito breeding.

Since implementation of the heavier penalties against homes on July 15, 2020, NEA has detected multiple mosquito breeding in 1,470 of the residential premises inspected, and repeated mosquito breeding in about 1,890 of the residential premises inspected.

NEA also issued 119 stop work orders to construction sites, and charged 61 contractors in court for poor housekeeping and mosquito breeding.

Additionally, 16 contractors have been issued with repeated stop work orders, due to poor upkeep of the sites.

Top image via Wikimedia Commons