According to The Star, this could indicate more dengue-ridden months to come, given how the number has exceeded last year’s average of 2,300 cases a week by a full one thousand.

Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah, the English daily reported, said that as of January 3 to 9, the number of dengue cases reported had been trending upwards since early November, with 13 states except Kedah and Labuan showing an increase in cases.

There were 1,044 outbreak locations in that week compared to the previous 907. The number of hotspots increased from 145 to 161, involving Selangor (122), Johor (22), Perak (8), Penang (4), Sabah (2), Negeri Sembilan (2) and the Federal Territory (1).

120,836 dengue cases were reported last year, an increase of 11.2 per cent compared to 108,698 cases in 2014.

The Health Ministry warned that the El Nino effect – a weather phenomenon that brings hot and dry weather – could cause numbers to increase by half.

El Nino is expected to hit the country from January to March.

“With the hot weather, the life cycle of Aedes mosquitoes from eggs to adulthood will be shortened to seven days and this will increase the mosquito population during the period,” he said.

Noor Hisham reminded people who stocked up water during the hot season to ensure that mosquitoes did not breed in it.

“This dengue issue needs to be tackled through more creative, innovative, comprehensive and integrated methods,” he was reported to have said.

The main reasons for the continued upward trend, Noor Hisham explained, were unhygienic environments, indiscriminate dumping of trash and mismanagement of trash collection.

Other reasons cited were the movement of people, a high-density population and rapid urbanisation.