The impact of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic movement control order (MCO) on dengue cases in Peninsular Malaysia
Mohd Hafiz Rahim,
Nazri Che Dom,
Sharifah Norkhadijah Syed Ismail,
Zamzaliza Abd Mulud,
Samsuri Abdullah,
Biswajeet Pradhan
Affiliations
Mohd Hafiz Rahim
Centre of Environmental Health & Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences, UITM Cawangan Selangor, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Nazri Che Dom
Centre of Environmental Health & Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences, UITM Cawangan Selangor, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia; Integrated Mosquito Research Group (I-MeRGe), UITM Cawangan Selangor, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia; Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia; Corresponding author at: Centre of Environmental Health & Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences, UITM Cawangan Selangor, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
Sharifah Norkhadijah Syed Ismail
Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Zamzaliza Abd Mulud
Faculty of Health Sciences, Centre of Nursing Studies, UITM Cawangan Selangor, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Samsuri Abdullah
Faculty of Ocean Engineering Technology and Informatics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
Biswajeet Pradhan
The Centre for Advanced Modelling and Geospatial Information System (CAMGIS), Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, NSW, Australia; Department of Energy and Mineral Sources Engineering, Sejong University, Choongmu-gwan, 209, Neungdong-ro, Gwangin-gu, Seoul 05006, Korea; Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research, King Abdul Aziz University, P.O.Box 80234, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
This study has highlighted the trend of recently-reported dengue cases after the implementation of the Movement Control Orders (MCOs) caused due to COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. The researchers used the dengue surveillance data published by the Malaysian Ministry of Health during the 3 phases of MCO (which ranged between 17th March 2020 and 28th April 2020) was used for determining the cumulative number of dengue patients. Thereafter, the dengue cases were mapped using the Geographical Information System (GIS). The results indicated that during the 42 days of MCO in Peninsular Malaysia, 11,242 total cases of dengue were reported. The daily trend of the dengue cases showed a decrease from 7268 cases that occurred before the MCOs to 4662 dengue cases that occurred during the initial 14 days of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., MCO I), to 3075 cases occurring during the MCO II and 3505 dengue cases noted during MCO III. The central peninsular region showed a maximal decrease in new dengue cases (52.62%), followed by the northern peninsular region (1.89%); eastern coastal region (1.25%) and the southern peninsular region (1.14%) during the initial MCO implementation. However, an increase in the new dengue cases was noted during the MCO III period, wherein all states showed an increase in the new dengue cases as compared during MCO II. The decrease in the pattern was not solely based on the MCO, hence, further investigation is necessary after considering different influencing factors. These results have important implication for future large-scale risk assessment, planning and hazard mitigation on dengue management.
