More than 12,000 dengue cases reported so far this year
But number of weekly cases continues to fall, with mozzie breeding taking place mostly in homes
Almost 230 dengue clusters were closed in the last month alone, although the total number of dengue cases has risen from a month ago.
A total of 12,108 dengue cases for this year were reported as of Sept 21, up by 1,360 from 10,748 cases as of Aug 24.
This is the highest number of cases reported in three years.
However, the number of weekly cases has continued to fall, to 303 in the third week of September, down from 480 a month before.
As of Wednesday, the National Environment Agency (NEA) had closed 1,092 of the 1,183 dengue clusters since the start of this year.
A cluster is closed if no new case is reported for 14 days from the symptom onset date of the latest case.
But with dengue season still at its height and cases of Zika creeping up, NEA said there can be no let-up in efforts to keep mosquitoes at bay.
"We're clearly not out of the woods yet," said NEA's director-general of public health Chew Ming Fai yesterday.
"The peak dengue season in Singapore usually lasts from June to October, and the weather remains quite warm."
LARGEST CLUSTER
He was speaking at a tour of the construction site for the future Tanjong Katong MRT Station.
The largest dengue cluster is in Jalan Eunos, with 127 cases, followed closely by Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2, where there have been 126 cases.
Separately, four cases of Zika were reported between Sept 8 and 21, bringing the total number of such cases this year to 11.
While some may pin the blame for rising dengue figures on construction sites, NEA's data show most of the mosquito breeding habitats detected - about 60 per cent - were on residential premises.
Mr Chew said: "We do need residents to step up... most of the breeding is still taking place in homes. The five-step mozzie wipeout is important, (so is) letting your friends and neighbours know the threat is not over and reminding them to clear the area of stagnant water."
NEA has stepped up its inspection of construction sites.
From January to June this year, NEA conducted around 3,400 inspections at construction sites and issued 230 notices to attend court and 17 stop work orders. It also undertook 11 court prosecutions against contractors for repeat offences.
During the same period, 12 dengue clusters were linked to construction sites, while 22 construction workers were infected with the virus.
However, after working with the Singapore Contractors Association and others, the agency has seen the proportion of construction sites breeding mosquitoes fall to 6 per cent this year - from 11 per cent of the sites inspected in 2013.
Several anti-mosquito measures have been put in place at the Tanjong Katong construction site.
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