One fatality due to the dengue fever last week raised the death toll from the fever to 71 cases so far, said the Director-General of Health Dr Mohd Ismail Merican.

He said the victim, a 46-year-old taxi driver from Cheng, Malacca who was also suffering from hypertension, died on Sept 21 following complications from a Haemorrhagic dengue infection.

He said in a statement today that the number of dengue fever cases during the week of Sept 20 to 26 dropped to 338 cases from 497 cases in the previous week.

"The significant drop in the number of cases could possibly be due to the Aidilfitri celebrations where those having the dengue fever symptoms did not seek treatment as they were busy with the celebrations," he said.

Meanwhile, he said four states showed an increase namely Terengganu (60 percent), Malacca (40 percent), Penang (28 percent) and Negeri Sembilan (8 percent).

Mohd Ismail said the cumulative figure for dengue cases so far stood at 31,423 compared with 33,558 cases for the corresponding period last year.

On the hot spots, he said that based on the monitoring carried out on 26 localities in three areas in the west coast of peninsular Malaysia, 10 were found to have a high incidence of aedes mosquito breeding.

Among the areas are Selangor (Hulu Langat, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council area and the Shah Alam City Council area), Federal Territory (Damansara, Klang Lama and Setapak) and Johor (the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council area).

On Chikungunya, Mohd Ismail said 26 cases were reported last week, an increase of 17 cases from nine cases in the previous week.

- Bernama