Project Wolbachia to fight dengue expanding to 5 more areas

This will bring number of households covered to 580,000, up from 480,000

- Zhaki Abdullah

An initiative to control the Aedes mosquito population through the release of lab-grown male mosquitoes is being expanded to five more residential areas.

This will see 580,000 households covered by Project Wolbachia, first introduced in 2016 in dengue hot spots such as Bukit Batok and Tampines, up from 480,000 previously.

From Oct 21, the initiative will cover more areas in Hougang, where there is an existing project site. It will also be expanded to Serangoon Central, Serangoon North, Jurong East and Jurong West over the coming months.

This was announced on Oct 3 by Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu during a mosquito release event in Hougang.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) had previously said that locations were chosen based on historical dengue risk and the Aedes mosquito population.

Under the project, lab-grown male mosquitoes carrying the Wolbachia bacteria are released in high-risk dengue areas to reduce the mosquito population over time. When the male mosquitoes mate with females, the eggs produced will not hatch.