Singapore confirms 27 new cases of Zika infection

Last week, the government urged its people to intensify preventive measures while in Zika-hit countries, and warned pregnant women to avoid visiting these countries.

The ministry added that as more cases emerge in areas, there is evidence that “there is transmission in the community with the presence of infected mosquitoes”.

Provincial officials have implemented steps to eradicate mosquitoes within a designated radius of the homes of Zika-infected patients and will follow up on the health of people who came in contact with the patients for at least 14 days.

Since it was detected in Brazil late previous year, the virus has spread through the Americas and the Caribbean to other regions, including Africa, Oceania, and Asia.

Health authorities in Malaysia and Singapore have also reported Zika patients with confirmed cases in Singapore already reaching 242.

Workers sprayed for mosquitoes after the rain brought by Hurricane Hermine and completed surveillance around the county to check problem areas over the holiday.

A health official in Indonesia said Monday the country can not afford to thoroughly check for a possible Zika outbreak, as Southeast Asia’s most populous country must focus on fighting dengue, a potentially fatal virus carried by the same mosquitoes.

But regional health experts believe Zika is significantly under-reported in Southeast Asia as authorities fail to conduct adequate screening and also because of its usually mild symptoms.

“There are other priorities like dengue fever, which is more prevalent and more unsafe, and we have to allocate our resources accordingly”.

Out of the 37 countries in the WHO Western Pacific Region, 19 have been recorded with Zika.

The Zika virus has been “buzzing” around the public’s ear since early February when the World Health Organization declared the virus “a public health emergency of worldwide concern”.

“From the past week’s experiences, the doctors have observed that all the patients who have been admitted to the hospital. have very mild symptoms”, she added.

More than two billion people could be at risk from Zika virus outbreaks in parts of Africa and Asia, according to study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito that causes Zika also causes dengue fever which is prevalent in Bangladesh.