PUTRAJAYA: A total of 8,502 dengue cases were reported in the country for the first three weeks of this year compared to 5,141 cases for the same period last year, an increase of 65 per cent.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said he was worried this could be an indicator that the dengue situation this year could be far worse than last year.
"We urge everyone from the public to the medical practitioners to be vigilant by taking all the necessary measures to check the matter," he told reporters after a meeting to discuss on dengue today.
Dr Subramaniam also called on all medical practitioners in the private sector to treat all cases as dengue cases until they were proven otherwise.
This must be done, he added, because private clinics or hospitals had failed to detect 99 per cent of dengue cases of patients who came to seek treatment on their first visit.