ISKANDAR PUTERI, March 2 (Bernama) -- Ramadan bazaar traders in Johor have been cautioned to stay vigilant on maintaining cleanliness to prevent the transmission of dengue fever, following the spike in cases in the state.

Director of the Johor State Health Department Dr Mohtar Pungut@Ahmad said traders must always ensure that rubbish is properly managed so it does not become a breeding ground for aedes mosquitoes.

He said the community also needs to play a crucial role, including finding and destroying aedes mosquito habitat around their homes.

"Looking at the trend (increase in dengue fever infection), cases in the early period of this year are indeed higher than before.

"So I exhort the whole community to upkeep cleanliness to reduce mosquito habitat because places around us may look clean but there is water stagnation among containers found in garbage and other receptacles that can pool water," he said when asked to comment on the current increase in dengue fever in Johor.

He said this after opening the state-level 2024 World Kidney Day at Sunway Big Box Retail Park here today.

When asked the reason for the spike in dengue fever cases in Johor, Dr Mohtar said a contributory factor is the festive season and school holidays which means higher traffic of community movement and thus a higher risk of dengue fever spreading.

State Health and Environment Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon was previously reported as saying that cumulative dengue cases in Johor recorded a 157 per cent increase in the 7th Epidemiological Week (ME07) 07/2024 this year, with 2,555 cases recorded compared to 994 cases for the same period last year.

He said of the total number of reported cases, 966 cases were from epidemic localities and 1,589 cases were from non-epidemic localities.

The district with the highest number of cases for EPI Week 07/2024 is Johor Bahru which has 320 cases.

-- BERNAMA