KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia reported 123,133 dengue fever cases throughout 2023, which represents a significant increase of 86.3 percent compared to the 66,102 cases reported in 2022, the health ministry said on Friday.
The mosquito-borne disease claimed a total of 100 lives over 2023, up from 56 over the same period in 2022, the ministry's director-general Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan said in a statement.
He also said the number of dengue cases for Dec. 24-30 dropped by 6.8 percent to 2,715 cases compared to 2,913 cases in the previous week.
On other mosquito-borne diseases, Muhammad Radzi said one case of chikungunya was recorded over the past week, with 197 cases being recorded over 2023, while on zika, he said 3,939 blood samples and 445 urine samples were screened and all were negative for the virus. ■