SPP’s Jose Raymond calls out Potong Pasir MP Sitoh Yih Pin on his dengue comments

The Chairman of the Singapore People’s Party Jose Raymond has called out Potong Pasir Member of Parliament Sitoh Yih Pin for his comments about the dengue situation affecting Potong Pasir.

Based on statistics made available on the National Environment Agency (NEA) website, Potong Pasir and its surrounding areas like Bidadari, Sennett Estate and Youngberg Terrace have more than 500 cases in active clusters.

Area of where Potong Pasir SMC is situated and the dengue clusters

In a Facebook post put up on 18 June, Mr Raymond called for “urgent attention” and also asked for all actions to be communicated to residents.

Mr Raymond had also posted about the dengue issue twice on his Facebook page in May, as number spiralled.

“Potong Pasir’s dengue problem demands urgent attention, and residents need to be informed of what is being done to curb the transmission and outbreak,” he started off as saying in his post.

He then called out Sitoh’s comments which carried in the New Paper, where the People’s Action Party politician said: “we think a major cause may be the construction sites around the estate” and that “we need the cooperation of the residents to be hygienic”.

However, Mr Raymond disputed this based on data released by NEA.

Said Mr Raymond in his post, “According to the NEA, 84 per cent of mosquito breeding were found in homes, rather than at construction sites or common areas in big clusters.

“It has also been ascertained that the spike in cases is also possibly due to low herd immunity against the less common dengue virus serotype 3 (DENV-3), which has been on the rise since start of 2020.

“The DENV-3 strain of the dengue has been on the rise since the end of last year, a strain not seen in Singapore for 30 years, which has led to the low immunity and rapid transmission,” he added on his Facebook post.

There are now more than 11,000 dengue cases in Singapore in 2020 so far, making it among the worst cases of dengue transmission in 50 years.

Mr Raymond also queried if there was any protocols in place for dengue management during Covid-19.

“Granted that a Parliamentary Question was answered by in early May 2020 about the dengue management protocols during Covid-19, that we are still experiencing alarming levels of transmission, especially in Potong Pasir, calls for urgent action and a clear counter-offensive strategy,” he said in his post.