• Dengue fever (known as “骨痛热症” or “登革热” in Mandarin) is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito.
• Symptoms of dengue include high fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, coughing, sore throat and abdominal pain.
• When dengue fever patients suffer from severe dehydration and a plunge in their platelet count, resulting in a tendency to haemorrhage, it is known as dengue haemorrhagic fever, which can be fatal.
• In 1953, a mutant variant of dengue fever was detected in Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and even as far as India and Sri Lanka. It mainly affected children between three and ten years old.
• The year 2020 saw the highest ever annual incidence of dengue in Singapore, with a total of 35,315 cases reported.
• Members of the public can check out the daily and weekly numbers of dengue cases on the National Environment Agency website.

In addition, 81 people contracted the more severe dengue haemorrhagic fever this year, the highest number since 2013. (Lianhe Zaobao, 8/11/2019)

• To prevent the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, the interior and the exterior surroundings of homes should be kept clean, stagnant water should be regularly removed, and insecticide should be sprayed around the home.
• In October 1981, the then Ministry of Environment held an exhibition and talk on dengue fever for the first time. The exhibition was held at many community centres, with the aim of raising awareness among Singaporeans.
• In 1998, then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong implemented the Dengue Fever Education Programme and Dengue Prevention Volunteer Groups in the private housing estate of Serangoon Gardens. These two projects were jointly organised by grassroots organisations and the Ministry of Environment, and were subsequently implemented in 13 private housing estates throughout Singapore. These projects aimed to assist residents in preventing the spread of dengue fever.