The National Environment Agency (NEA) will be releasing male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia across 1,400 additional HDB blocks to fight Dengue Fever, according to Minister for Sustainability and Environment, Grace Fu.

The release of the Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes will cover 8 new locations, including:

• Bedok North
• Bedok Reservoir
• Choa Chu Kang
• Geylang
• Hougang
• Punggol
• Sengkang
• Woodlands

Residents living in these areas will be informed before the mosquitoes are released.

Here is the NEA’s statement in full

Singapore, 15 June 2022 – Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Ms Grace Fu, announced at the Asia Dengue Summit today that NEA will be releasing male Wolbachia-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (Wolbachia-Aedes) in 1,400 additional HDB blocks across Singapore from July 2022. The releases are expected to reduce the urban Aedes aegypti mosquito population (dengue vector) in these high-risk areas, and help understand the impact of Wolbachia technology on dengue cases.

Eight new study sites to receive male Wolbachia-Aedes releases

2          NEA will expand the releases of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes to eight additional sites in a multi-site field study. The eight locations are Bedok (Bedok North and Bedok Reservoir), Choa Chu Kang (Yew Tee), Geylang, Hougang, Punggol, Sengkang and Woodlands (see Annex for Location Maps of Study Sites for NEA’s Multi-site Field Study). While the releases will suppress the urban Aedes aegypti mosquito populations in these sites, data collected will also help to determine the impact of the technology on dengue cases and clusters. The study has been scientifically designed, with the sites selected based on a set of criteria – historical dengue risk level, Aedes aegypti population, the size and landscape of the area, and NEA’s capacity for producing and releasing male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes.

3          With this latest expansion, the coverage of Project Wolbachia-Singapore will increase from the current 19 per cent to about 31 per cent of total HDB blocks in Singapore. Five square kilometres of landed residential areas have also been covered. Selected construction sites and non-HDB residential sites in dengue high-risk areas will also see releases. Community and residents of release areas will be informed prior to the start of the releases.

Good results in current study sites; sustained releases still needed

4          Since April 2022, NEA has achieved full coverage of male Wolbachia-Aedes releases in Tampines and Yishun and started large-scale releases in the Marine Parade landed residential estate. High-risk areas in parts of Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok HDB towns will also continue to get targeted releases of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes. The results have been promising thus far. In Tampines and Yishun, where there has been more than one year of releases, we have previously observed up to 98 per cent reduction in the dengue mosquito population and up to 88 per cent reduction of dengue cases. Similar observations have been made in the current dengue outbreak where these areas have 70 per cent less dengue cases compared to similar areas without Wolbachia. The positive outcome of the field studies at release sites have shown that continued releases of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes can successfully suppress the female urban Aedes aegypti mosquito population in Singapore. 

Phased approach and testing different strategies help NEA in future wider scale deployment

5          As Singapore is the first country to trial and implement the use of this technology in a high-rise, high-density tropical environment, releases were first rolled out gradually in a phased approach, allowing for systematic and rigorous reviews. Carrying out different release strategies in different areas and landscapes also allows NEA to determine the most effective and impactful approaches for wider scale deployment.

6          When NEA first started Project Wolbachia in 2016, only 39 HDB blocks and over 3,900 homes were covered. Today, Project Wolbachia has covered about 1,800 HDB blocks across study sites in Yishun, Tampines, Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Batok towns, and within five square kilometres of landed estate at Marine Parade, comprising some 160,000 homes. With the multi-site field trial, over 300,000 homes will be covered.

7          “The expansion of the project to multiple sites is a very exciting and important next step in Project Wolbachia-Singapore. NEA is very encouraged by the results in existing study sites which have shown the effectiveness of the Wolbachia technology in the reduction of Aedes aegypti mosquito population in these areas. As Project Wolbachia successfully suppresses the population of dengue vector in release sites, the community is urged to cooperate with the programme in preventing the resurgence of mosquito abundance by removing mosquito breeding habitats. Having breeding sources of mosquitoes in the community will reverse the impact achieved by the technology” said Associate Professor Ng Lee Ching, Group Director, Environmental Health Institute, NEA.

Scaling up made possible by collaboration with partners

8          To support its project expansion, NEA will increase the number of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes produced per week from the current 2 million to 5 million by end 2022. Increased capacity for expansion of Project Wolbachia is made possible by NEA’s collaboration with our partners Orinno Technology Pte. Ltd. (Orinno), Verily Life Sciences (Verily) and the National Robotics Programme, that looks at the end-to-end development of differentiating robotic enablers and solutions in Singapore. Orinno co-develops technological solutions for the mass production, gender-sorting and release of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes using automation technologies and Artificial Intelligence. Such technological developments have improved the efficiency of mosquito production by up to 40 times, as compared to manual methods. Verily complements NEA’s mosquito production and release efforts and has contributed to the gender-sorting and release of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes at the Tampines and Marine Parade study sites.

Project Wolbachia – additional novel tool to fight dengue         

9        Against a backdrop of favourable climatic conditions, low herd immunity, presence of Aedes aegypti and endemic circulation of the virus, Singapore has experienced regular outbreaks. 2022 has been a challenging year thus far as we faced an early surge in dengue cases and numbers are expected to hit a record high, with more than 14,000 dengue cases reported to date, exceeding the total 5,258 dengue cases reported in 2021.  

10        The Wolbachia technology will complement existing community efforts and vector control operations to reduce the dengue vector in our community. The tool has been shown to be useful for reducing the risk of dengue transmission in a local area, typically taking at least three to four months to effect significant reduction of Aedes aegypti population. Moving forward, NEA will assess the use of the technology as an additional tool to interrupt active dengue clusters.

11        “Business-as-usual is not an option given the escalating threats of dengue. Novel technologies, including Wolbachia and dengue vaccines, provide new tools to complement and strengthen existing dengue control efforts, and prevent epidemic transmission of this disease. The results observed with Project Wolbachia to date are promising, but it is important for the Singapore community to realise that it is not the silver bullet that will control dengue alone. It is thus important for the community to continue staying vigilant and take steps to fight dengue,” said Professor Duane Gubler, Dengue Expert Advisory Panel Chairman and Emeritus Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.

Community to continue staying vigilant and take steps to fight dengue

12        Even as we roll out Project Wolbachia-Singapore to more areas, the technology is not a panacea and its effectiveness may be hindered by mosquito breeding in the community. Residents and businesses throughout the country, with or without Wolbachia-Aedes releases, must ensure good housekeeping to keep our homes, premises and estates free from mosquitoes and dengue. We seek everyone’s support to stay vigilant and do their part to prevent dengue.

~~ End ~~

An elderly woman in India, 70-year-old Maya Murmu, was trampled to death by an elephant while fetching water from a well in Odisha on 11 June, according to The National News.

She died from her injuries and her family then gathered for her funeral, but the elephant that killed her then showed up again at her funeral.

It then trampled on her dead body and threw it, before fleeing the scene. Quite bizarrely, nobody else at the funeral was attacked by the elephant, except for the deceased.

The elephant is believed to have strayed away from the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary that is situated about 200km away from where the victim was first trampled to death.

Rise in fatal elephant attacks

Over the last 7 years, about 3,300 people in India have been killed by elephants, with the fatal attacks increasing in recent times.

Founder of the Save The Asian Elephants conservation charity, Duncan McNair, described the attack on Murmu as “surprising” because there was no provocation of the animal.

He said that the elephant’s attack on the deceased’s corpse could be due to it thinking the victim was a threat to its herd, according to Newsweek.

A video was uploaded on Instagram with a netizen slowly revealing his account balance on his UOB Banking app.

The amount indicated in the UOB Current Account was $1,918,488.07, a kind of bank balance that many people hope to have and envy.

The video was captioned with the text “any sugar babies want intro?”

The video attracted over 10,000 views and several comments of girls saying “pick me”.

However, this has unveiled an ugly side of the internet with one netizen commenting:

“The people in the comments saying “pick me” are the ones that hate to be called Gold Diggers”

While many people are showing envy after seeing the video, many commented that the person who is showing off his money is unwise and could get targeted.

With one of the comments saying: “Ok time to rob him”

While some netizens said that the man might have struck the lottery but it is a “Current Account” in other words it is a business account.

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A video of an E-scooter charging using an outlet at the lift lobby of an HDB void deck.

The E-scooter is not just stealing electricity but it is an illegal E-scooter which does not have any number plate on it.

Back in 2020, a fire took place at the void deck of a block located along Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 after a PMD was charging at the void deck as well.

This is not the first time something like this has happened, back in March 2022 an E-bike was also seen charging at the void deck of an HDB in Yishun.

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Here are what netizens think:

Netizens who viewed the post noted that it might become a major fire hazard if it is not cared for.

Some even said that they are stealing electricity, while some netizens speculate that the person is ran out of power half way and used the plug there. But most netizens do not think so.

• the whole building might even get burn down just because of that chee bye kia
• Hope Police find out who this monkey is, so proud to charge and void deck.