Having managed to control its coronavirus outbreak, Singapore is now facing a record outbreak of a second, equally deadly virus.
Dengue fever cases, a disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, are now piling up in the city-state, which has already reported 14,000 of them so far this year.
Health officials now believe the number is almost certain to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013, the previous and worst outbreak, by the end of the year.
Singapore has seen more than 14,000 cases of dengue, caused by a virus spread by mosquitoes, so far this year, and is on track to hit the record of 22,170 cases seen in 2013.
Singapore managed to suppress its first wave of coronavirus, peaking on March 28 in 138 cases. But a much bigger second wave hit after the virus entered migrant worker housing, peaking at 1,426 cases on April 21 that is just beginning to subside.
Last week 1,468 cases of the virus were reported, the third consecutive week that cases have exceeded 1,000 and the largest weekly total ever recorded in Singapore.
Sixteen people have died from the virus, Singapore reports, compared to 26 who have died from coronaviruses. Singapore has 44,479 cases of coronavirus.
Those numbers are expected to increase progressively as the state progresses in the mosquito breeding season, which began in June and will last until October.
Like the coronavirus, only about 25 percent of people infected with dengue, which is transmitted by the bite of the Aedes mosquito, will show symptoms.
Also like the coronavirus, dengue has an incubation period of between five and ten days after a person is bitten, with symptoms lasting around a week.
Symptoms are also similar to coronavirus, including high fever and muscle aches. Other symptoms include vomiting and headache, particularly behind the eyes.
A small number of cases develop severe symptoms, including vomiting blood, rapid breathing, severe abdominal pain, and fatigue.
Singapore has now reported a total of 44,479 coronavirus cases, one of the worst outbreaks in Southeast Asia.
Dengue has a death rate of about one percent of cases, which is similar to the coronavirus, which is believed to have a death rate of about 1.5 percent.
Health authorities say Singapore currently has 334 active dengue groups in the city, fueled by “profuse mosquito breeding.”
Inspectors say people who did not remove patches of standing water, including outdoor basins, disused water sources, hot tubs and drains, have caused the increase.
In several cases, they said the number of mosquito larvae discovered in those places was “too numerous to count” and easily exceeded 100.
Starting July 15, the government will increase fines for people who do not properly remove standing water, which mosquitoes use to reproduce.
The new crisis comes amid the coronavirus outbreak in Singapore, which is one of the most severe in Southeast Asia.
The country was one of the first to be affected by the coronavirus outside of mainland China, and was initially praised for its global response.
Health officials in Singapore say poor maintenance of private properties and construction sites has left pools of standing water, leading to ‘profuse mosquito breeding’ (file)
By March 28, the peak of Singapore’s first wave and three months after the first infection, the city-state’s hand managed to keep new cases at just a few dozen per day.
But then the outbreak spread to Singapore’s migrant workers, who live in largely unhealthy overcrowded housing, and the cases skyrocketed.
During the peak of its second wave, on April 21, officials recorded 1,426 cases in a 24-hour period.
In comparison, neighboring Malaysia has reported 8,648 cases, although a significantly higher number of deaths in 121.
.
