NEA said no new Zika cases, numbers of infected stayed in 333

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has stated on its website that there has been no new cases of Zika infection found, therefore the number of people affected with the Zika virus remains at 333 cases.

This is the first time that no confirmed cases is being announced since 27 August.

8 of the total confirmed cases were pregnant women, with more than 80 percent, 269 cases, of the confirmed cases were from the main cluster in Aljunied, Sims Drive and Paya Lebar Way.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) had announced earlier that the National Public Health Laboratory and A*STAR’s Bioinformatics Institute has completed the sequencing analysis of the Zika virus found in two patients from the Aljunied Crescent/ Sims Drive cluster.

The analysis found that the virus belongs to the Asian lineage and likely evolved from the strain that was already circulating in Southeast Asia. MOH states that the virus from these two patients was not imported from South America. However, the first case that was reported in May 2016 had been confirmed to be the same as the strains currently found in South America the strains currently found in South America.

Vector control is still being carried out by NEA to control the issue of mosquitoes.