PARLIAMENT | Dengue recorded the highest number of infectious disease in the country since 2015, totalling 71,641 cases as of September this year, said Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahya.

He said this was then followed by hand, foot and mouth disease with 26,030 cases, tuberculosis (19,430 cases), food poisoning (11,281 cases) and measles (6,646 cases).

"The infectious diseases can spread from one individual to another through various ways, for example dengue, though the Aedes mosquito bite, HFMD (contact with person infected by the disease), food poisoning (contaminated food) and measles (breathing and contaminated air),” he said in response to a question from Dr Mansor Abdul Rahman (BN-Sik) in Parliament today.

Hilmi also said foreign workers in the country were required to go through three stages of medical checks, with the first during the first month of arriving in the country and then at the end of the first year, followed by the end of the second year of being in the country.

Effective January next year, the foreign workers are required to go for medical examination every two years after completing the first three stages of medical check-up, he added.

- Bernama