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SINGAPORE – Two construction sites received two suspension orders each for failing to prevent mosquitoes from breeding this year.
In a statement on the local dengue situation issued on Wednesday (September 16), the National Environment Agency (NEA) said that enforcement action will be taken against the companies managing the two construction sites.
One of the sites, located near Arnasalam Chetty Road and Kim Yam Road, received work stoppages on July 20 and September 9.
The second stop-work order is still in effect and will be lifted only when necessary preventive measures have been taken, the NEA said. The work site is located within a dengue group that currently has 364 patients.
Multiple mosquito breeding habitats found in the workplace included an air conditioning compressor, tarp, flowerpot, and wooden frame. Fifty or more mosquito larvae were found in each habitat.
The other construction site to receive two work stoppages is at Serangoon North Avenue 1. It received the orders on July 15 and Wednesday.
Mosquito breeding habitats detected at the site included water ponds in units on upper floors, with 50 or more larvae in each habitat.
Meanwhile, around 250 construction site citations were issued from January to August this year, while 10 contractors will be indicted in court for repeat offenses.
In addition to the four work stoppages issued at the two workplaces, another 17 such orders were issued this year.
The NEA said it has worked with Singapore Contractors Association Ltd, companies that manage construction sites, community partners and residents to intensify dengue prevention and control efforts at construction sites.
To manage mosquito breeding on job sites, construction site operators were instructed to maintain a minimum workforce to perform clean-up duties and facilitate on-site pest control services during the breaker.
Since the circuit breaker started on April 7, all 1,213 construction sites on the island have also been inspected at least once.
In August, the agency found about 55 percent fewer breeding cases of the Aedes mosquito at construction sites than in July.
The NEA said that about 5,000 of the 665,000 dengue inspections it has conducted between January and August of this year were conducted at construction sites.
Although last week was the fifth consecutive week of decline in the weekly number of dengue cases, with 726 reported cases, Singapore is still in the midst of its largest dengue outbreak.
Some 28,944 cases were reported in the first 37 weeks of this year, surpassing the previous high of 22,170 reported in all of 2013.
As of September 5, 21 people between the ages of 25 and 92 had died of dengue this year. Of these, 18 worked or lived in active dengue groups.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in a Facebook post following a Tuesday visit to NEA – Institute of Environmental Health Mosquito Production Plant, urged Singaporeans to do their part in the fight against dengue.
“Even as we fight Covid-19, we cannot look away from other threats,” he said.
“We all have an important role to play in helping to destroy mosquito breeding habitats throughout Singapore.”
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