A policeman from Malaysia's northern Penang state died Thursday of dengue fever as the government braced for an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease, according to DPA. The 46-year-old officer became the fifth person in the state to die from the disease, the official Bernama news agency reported. The officer was admitted to hospital Tuesday after a blood test revealed he was infected with the virus, and he died early Thursday. Malaysia announced this week that the government would begin a massive nationwide cleanup beginning Saturday to control the increasingly serious outbreak of dengue fever. Deputy director of the Health Ministry's disease-control division, Marzukhi Mohamad Isa, said the anti-dengue programme would focus on cleaning up the areas worst-hit - Penang, Kuala Lumpur, central Selangor and southern Johor state. Thousands of health workers are to be dispatched to spray insecticide in areas suspected of being breeding sites of the Aedes mosquito. Dengue cases have surged by 26.5 per cent this year in Malaysia, with 27,569 cases reported as of September 24, compared with 21,786 cases in the same period last year. About 750 cases were reported last week alone while the death toll is estimated to be more than 70 this year.
