State public health, unity, women and family development committee chairman, Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, said as of Feb 11, which is the sixth epidemiological week (ME), a total of 6,870 cases were recorded, an increase of 141.4% compared to the same period last year.

“With the number of dengue cases close to 40,000 last year, just imagine (a spike in cases in 2024) if it is not contained,” she told reporters.

She said that based on the dengue fever cycle in Malaysia over a period of 20 years, every four to five years there would be a steep rise in dengue cases.

“It is expected that a steep rise in cases will occur in 2023 or 2024 after the highest dengue outbreak in 2019,” she said.

Siti Mariah said for the sixth ME week, 510 dengue outbreak localities were detected in the state, an increase of 8.5% compared to 470 localities the previous week.

Petaling district recorded the highest number of localities at 203, followed by Hulu Langat (120), Klang (82) and Gombak (69).

She said the state government, in collaboration with the health department and other relevant agencies, had allocated RM1 million to implement integrated dengue operations.

The operations started yesterday and will go on until March 22. It will focus on the four districts with the highest cumulative number of dengue cases.