He said a total of 1,224 cases were recorded for the period compared with 1,172 in the previous week.

However, he said the cumulative total for recorded dengue cases declined by 5,441 to 9,072 cases compared with 14,513 in the corresponding period last year.

“As for fatalities due to dengue fever, a total of 20 deaths were recorded for the period, compared with 40 deaths recorded in 2017, a drop of 20 cases (50%),” he said in a statement yesterday.

Noor Hisham said a total of 383 localities for dengue cases were reported in 11 states and 136 hotspot localities in four states.

One case of chikungunya was also recorded in Sik, Kedah, with the number of chikungunya cases reported up to Feb 24 this year totalling 37. Of these, 31 were in Kelantan, two in Kedah and one each in Perlis, Selangor, Sarawak and Sabah.

Noor Hisham added that as at Feb 24, the surveillance system monitoring for the Zika virus by the National Public Health Laboratory and the Institute of Medical Research found that the test results of 278 blood samples among patients demonstrating the Zika virus infection were negative.