Merry Christmas everyone, and to those traveling back to kampungs, pls exercise extra care and caution
The Star Online > Nation
Tuesday December 22, 2009
Fears of dengue as thousands head home
BY STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The return of thousands of natives to their long-houses for Christmas has given authorities the jitters as possible outbreak of dengue in the interior looms.
This is because many of Sarawaks urban centres are currently hard-hit about 4,000 cases have been reported statewide with five fatalities this year.
The situation is especially acute in Miri, where more than 900 dengue cases have been reported, with four deaths.
Many of the migrants in Miri are from the adjacent Baram district.
Baram district officer Joseph Belayong said his main worry was that some of those who were returning home might be dengue sufferers.
If people with dengue fever return to their long-houses in the interior, we fear that they will trigger a dengue explosion among the communities in the interior.
This is because longhouses are infested with mosquitoes and the spread of the disease will be very swift, he said.
Belayong said there are over 300 very densely-populated longhouses in Baram, some located in very remote regions.
Checks at the Kuala Baram jetty 35km north of the city showed that the exodus back to the interior has started with hundreds of people lining up to take speedboats home to their longhouses in Baram and beyond.
Belayong said the authorities have already issued a dengue warning in anticipation of the mass return of people from the city.
Belayong added that his office was also working very closely with the Health and Medical Services Department to find ways to prevent the spread of the disease from Miri to the interior.
We are especially worried about the possible spread in the very remote interior because these areas are very difficult to reach.
Those who suffer from dengue will need to get medical attention immediately, he stressed.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam has directed all relevant agencies to carry out simultaneous fogging in residential and industrial estates, as well as conduct house-to-house visits to detect and destroy the mosquitoes breeding grounds.
