The city-state’s environment agency workers have been ramping up efforts to eradicate mosquitoes in a bid to curb the spread of the disease, expanding a fumigation campaign centred on the “ground zero” of the outbreak in the eastern suburb of Aljunied.
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Some of the new cases had been detected in areas where infections had not previously been reported, the health ministry said in a statement.
Dr Salama added: “We really have to congratulate the transparency and quick reporting the Government of Singapore has implemented in the case of this outbreak and hope that all other countries can do the same”. And overall, Florida set a new record for tourism with more than 105 million people from out of state and other countries visiting the state in 2015.
The Malaysian woman had made a brief trip in late August to visit her daughter, who lives in Singapore and has already been confirmed as having the Zika virus, Malaysia’s Health Ministry said in a statement.
There has been a surge in the number of people affected by the Zika virus in Singapore, particularly among those working in construction sites. “We need Congress to do its part to provide the necessary emergency resources to properly combat the spread of this virus”, stated Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine.
Despite that assessment, the illness remains a “public health emergency of worldwide concern”, Salama said.
Singapore, with a “very technologically advanced health system”, was able to identify the disease “very early”, Heymann said.
Thirteen Indians have been infected with the Zika virus in Singapore, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Thursday.
The West African country reported it had five cases of microcephaly, the birth defect linked to Zika, shortly before declaring the outbreak, which the World Health Organization said stems from the African strain of the virus, not the Asian strain that has been spreading quickly in Brazil and elsewhere in the Americas since 2015.
Salama said that while Zika samples from the country appear to be from the African strain, it hasn’t been determined whether the African strain of the virus might also be responsible for the neurological problems. The WHO has investigated 1,845 cases so far. In the 1.5-square-mile area of Miami Beach where locally-acquired cases of Zika were confirmed, Miami-Dade County’s Mosquito Control team conducted almost 2,000 proactive inspections, abatement and treatment of mosquito breeding and adult mosquito activity, and three truck sprayings throughout the area, and in an additional extended area.
After Hurricane Hermine came ashore along the northern Gulf Coast early Friday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott urged people to dump standing water, “no matter how small”, to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.
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There is no vaccine or treatment for Zika, which is a close cousin of dengue and chikungunya and causes mild fever, rash and red eyes. Up to 80 per cent of cases are asymptomatic.
