PETALING JAYA, 23 Nov: The people have been asked to improve cleanliness to prevent the spread of dengue caused by Aedes mosquito as it requires concentrated effort from all parties, regardless of background.

The Mayor of Petaling Jaya, Datin Paduka Alinah Ahmad, said that incidents of dengue cases are closely related to hygiene and awareness on the dengue epidemic as well as efforts to handle them.

“What is sad is that the increasing number of cases is due to the attitude of some people who places hygiene practices as secondary,” she said when chairing the Full MBPJ Meeting here at the headquarters.

Through facts released by the Ministry of Health, from January till 18 November 2013, Petaling Jaya recorded 2,067 dengue cases.

Alinah said that efforts to reduce dengue cases, including control and monitoring by the Petaling District Health Office and MBPJ, gives meaning in efforts to address this epidemic by fogging, examining larvae and gotong-royong (mutual cooperation) activities.

She said that there 60 outbreak areas; nine uncontrolled, 16 hot-spots and 35 controlled areas.

“The North Zone and South Zone recorded many dengue cases and with this, the Council has asked all Council Members to hold gotong-royong in their respective areas following the locality of outbreaks,” she added.

Alinah said that MBPJ hopes that the people can conduct checks themselves in and around their homes because inspection results show that Aedes mosquito breeding mostly takes place in homes, and not outside homes such as drains.

“The public have been advised to spend about 10 minutes a week with their families to clean their homes,” she said.