Singapore, Thailand keep watchful eye on Zika

The country’s National Environment Agency said the same day that there will be community outreach activities over the next two weeks across the island to urge residents to fight Zika. They should ensure that mosquitoes are not breeding in homes and remove stagnant water. 

Despite the rise in Zika infections, Singapore has been recognised for making textbook response to the Zika outbreak and its Government’s handling of the outbreak represented a “role model”.

Peter Salama, head of the WHO’s outbreaks and emergencies, said on September 2 that since the confirmation of the first locally-transmitted Zika case, within that period of time, there’s been an enormous amount of lab work, public health work, including vector control, detailed follow-up including retroactive analysis of cases. 

He hailed the transparency and quick reporting the Singaporean Government has implemented in the case of this outbreak and hope that all other countries can do the same.

The first locally transmitted case, a 47-year-old Malaysian woman, was announced on August 27. In May, Singapore reported the first Zika case, who contracted the mosquito-borne virus in Brazil. 

Meanwhile, Thailand recorded two more Zika cases in northern Chiang Mai province, local media reported on September 2. 

Chiang Mai Governor Pawin Chamniprasart confirmed that two women from San Sai district aged 18 and 74 were diagnosed with the infection. The previous Zika outbreak was also found in the same district. 

Local media said a nine-year-old girl died of the virus recently in the northern part of Thailand, raising the death toll to three. 

The number of detected Zika cases in Thailand has jumped significantly in 2016 compared to recent years. A total of 97 people had been infected with Zika in 10 provinces in the first half of this year, according to the Thai Disease Control Department. 

An average of five people contracted Zika virus each year in the country between 2012 and 2015.