Anti-dengue project to cover half of S'pore households by 2026

Project Wolbachia, an effort to control dengue through the release of lab-grown mosquitoes, will expand to cover 50 percent of all households in Singapore by 2026.

- Zhaki Abdullah

The insects, released to control the population of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes responsible for spreading the dengue virus, will reach 800,000 households by 2026, covering the majority of areas at risk of large dengue outbreaks.

Currently, the project covers about 520,000, or nearly 35 percent of all households here.

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu announced this on Nov 25 at the opening ceremony of the 8th Singapore International Dengue Workshop at Jen Singapore Tanglin hotel.

The workshop, which runs until Nov 29, is organised by the World Health Organisation, the National Environment Agency's (NEA) Environmental Health Institute, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.