DENGUE OUTBREAK IN BRADDELL HEIGHTS ESTATE

DENGUE OUTBREAK IN BRADDELL HEIGHTS ESTATE: 6.

Mr R Ravindran asked the Minister for the Environment (a) what are the causes of the dengue outbreak in Braddell Heights estate; (b) what measures have been taken by the Ministry to eradicate the dengue outbreak; and (c) whether these measures have been successful.

The Minister for the Environment (Mr Lim Swee Say): Mr Speaker, Sir, on 16th September, the National Environment Agency (NEA) was notified by MOH of six dengue cases in Serangoon Avenues 2 and 3. NEA took immediate action to fog the area to get rid of adult Aedes mosquitoes. Fogging was repeated for a few weeks.

On the same day, NEA officers started door-to-door visits to distribute advisory letters and educational pamphlets on dengue prevention to the residents. They also inspected households, construction sites and outdoor places to search and destroy breeding grounds. In total, NEA found breedings in 63 households, a junior college, a construction site and on the roof covers of two water tanks at two HDB blocks.

To increase public awareness and to step up public education, NEA contacted the grassroots organisations on

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7th October. More than 30 volunteers from the Residents' Committees (RC) joined in to help distribute the letters and pamphlets to the residents. By 11th October, all households in Serangoon Avenues 2 and 3 and 1,600 households in the surrounding area, including Braddell Heights estate, were covered. A roving exhibition was also held on weekends in the HDB void decks to inform residents about dengue and the preventive measures that they could take. The RC volunteers also helped to put up posters in the lift lobbies of the HDB blocks to raise public awareness.

Sir, with the strong support and active participation of the grassroots leaders and residents, the outbreak was brought under control by 12th October.

Since then, another outbreak involving four cases occurred in Serangoon Avenue 2 on 19th December. This time round, NEA immediately informed the CCC chairman on the same day and educational pamphlets were distributed again to the residents in the area with the help of RC volunteers. Fogging again was carried out and mosquito-breeding habitats that were found were destroyed. There were far fewer breeding habitats as a result of the heightened awareness this time round. No new cases have been reported in the current cluster. So with the early involvement of the community, the outbreak was more limited and came under control within a shorter time by 29th December, in other words, in 10 days.

Sir, Singapore is located in a region where dengue virus and Aedes mosquitoes are prevalent. From time to time, there would be localised outbreaks of dengue. Community support and participation is vital in our efforts to reduce the incidents of dengue outbreaks. NEA will continue with public education. At the same time, from now on, NEA will

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also draw on greater community involvement much sooner. It will notify the grassroots advisors, grassroots organisations and medical clinics in the affected areas much earlier than its past practice. In this way, the community is alerted much earlier, and can respond more speedily too. Working together, we believe we can reduce the incidents of dengue outbreaks, and bring any outbreak under control as quickly as possible.

Mr R Ravindran (Marine Parade): Two supplementary questions, Sir. I thank the Minister for his reply. The first question is: does ENV have a complete checklist for their officers to undertake when they visit sites where mosquito breeding is suspected and whether, in this instance, there were cases where some areas where mosquito breeding was going on which were left out at the initial stages? The second question is: is there coordination between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Environment and the private clinics in the respective areas where there

are cases of dengue being reported? I understand that some of the medical professionals, especially in private clinics, were unaware that there was a dengue outbreak and, as such, they were hesitant to diagnose some cases as dengue because they were not aware. Could we improve this process of communication with the local medical professionals?

Mr Lim Swee Say: Mr Speaker, Sir, the NEA conducts routine inspections on all facilities in all estates on a regular basis. For example, there is a 2-month roving programme to inspect schools within a certain area.

Mr Ravindran asked whether there is a checklist on where to inspect. The answer is yes. But if the question is whether, with a checklist, it is possible for any officer to cover every corner of the roof top, building and so on, the answer is no. Firstly, the area of coverage is big.

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Secondly, these are preventive inspections. In other words, we conduct these inspections before any outbreak is reported, not after the outbreak. Once an outbreak is reported, there will be a re-inspection and, this time around, they will take much longer time and inspect more thoroughly. We will continue to enhance the checklist and, in particular, we will pay greater attention to those areas where dengue outbreaks are more frequent.

Mr Ravindran asked whether the MOH, ENV, NEA and the medical clinics can improve the level of communication. The answer is yes. In the past, the NEA would take about one week to 10 days before they alert the community. This is because the priority of NEA within the first seven to 10 days of an outbreak was to do whatever they can to contain the situation. However, in the case of Serangoon Avenue 2, it was very clear that functioning on its own, NEA took more than three weeks to keep the outbreak under control, whereas the second time round, with the early participation of the grassroots, they were able to do it in 10 days. The NEA has therefore decided that, from now on, on the day of outbreak, they will alert the grassroots organisations as well as all the medical clinics in the area so that we can fight the outbreak as one community.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): Sir, I have seen some photographs of the cases that have been detected in estates in Kovan and Hillside Drive. I would like to request the Minister to get NEA to work with BCA, as well as the

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landowners, for a more permanent solution.

Presently, what is being done is basically temporary. That means, they only clear the breeding ground. But the third-storey gullies are still there. So, these would be choked again after one week or a month. I think a permanent solution should be discussed with the landowners to see how they could redesign or redirect the water drainage system.

Mr Lim Swee Say: Mr Speaker, Sir, I thank Mdm Cynthia Phua for her suggestion. I will ask the NEA to follow up on her idea.

Dr Teo Ho Pin: Sir, may I ask the Minister whether the mosquito trap called Ovitrap is effective in killing mosquitoes and, if it is effective, whether the Ministry has any plans to encourage more residents to install these Ovitraps so as to control the population of mosquitoes in Singapore.

Mr Lim Swee Say: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Ovitrap, referred to by Dr Teo Ho Pin, serves two functions. Firstly, it is used to trap mosquitoes, so that the newly-born mosquitoes will not be able to escape into the open. Secondly, the Ovitrap is used to estimate the population size and monitor the population growth of mosquitoes in the surrounding area.

Up till now, one drawback of the Ovitrap is that it is not so simple to operate. It is not just a case of putting the Ovitrap in a particular location and it will go into automated mode. The residents would still have to handle the equipment such as replacing the water and destroying the mosquitoes and so on. There are certain steps involved which some of the residents and grassroots volunteers have found quite difficult to follow. I am happy to say that NEA has come out with a simpler design. With this new design, more residents will find it easier to operate the Ovitrap. Our intention is to make greater use of Ovitraps, both to monitor the growth of the mosquito population in certain areas and, at the same time, help to contain the growth.