NIRMAL GHOSHChina making stridesin radio broadcast race THINKPAGE36

SALMA KHALIKHey doc, please slow down and speak plainly THINKPAGE38

PHOTOS: SISTERS’ ISLAND MARINE PARK, DIOS VINCOY JR FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES, JAMIE KOH, LIM SIN THAI, TAN HSUEH YUN

THINKPAGE39THINK

PAGE39

Now Ann Teohwants to help

poor girlswith

a dream

Now Ann Teohwants to help

poor girlswith

a dream

Hardslog tosuccess

Hardslog tosuccess

THINKPAGE40THINKPAGE40

Conservationists spent decades to getSingapore’s first marine park

Conservationists spent decades to getSingapore’s first marine park

Worth fighting forWorth fighting for SUNDAY LIFE!PAGE6SUNDAY LIFE!PAGE6

Julka’s got $30K in thebank, and countingJulka’s got $30K in thebank, and counting

Just 5 and atop modelJust 5 and atop model

TOP NEWSPAGE6TOP NEWSPAGE6

Parents pay to prepare kids to ace talent schemeParents pay to prepare kids to ace talent schemeDirect School AdmissionsDirect School Admissions

IN

THE BIGJUICEFAD

IGNATIUSLOW

I confess:I hate

durian

PAGE12

PAGES2&3

My perfectryokan retreat

PAGES8&9

TANHSUEH YUN

WARREN FERNANDEZSure you want to partylike there’s no tomorrow? THINKPAGE37

Melissa Lin

More than 2,000 grassroots volun-teers will be trained to go door todoor and teach residents how toprevent the spread of dengue.

Singapore is in the midst of itspeak dengue season, which coin-cides with the dry months betweenJune and October. There were 520new cases between last Sunday and3.30pm last Friday, bringing the tal-ly to more than 11,600 infectionsthis year.

Two deaths have also been re-ported, with the latest being an85-year-old man who died lastweek.

Second Minister for Environ-ment and Water Resources GraceFu, who launched the nationwidedengue education and preventiondrive yesterday, expects the fightagainst the disease to be “equallychallenging” as last year’s.

That was when Singapore hadits worst dengue epidemic withmore than 22,170 people falling ill.

According to the National Envi-ronment Agency (NEA) less thantwo weeks ago, Choa Chu Kang re-corded the biggest dengue cluster

here with 316 cases – eclipsing thehigh of 233 infections in a clusterin Tampines last year.

And while weekly dengue casesthis year peaked in the first week ofthis month at 891 cases, numbersmay still climb as the comingmonths are expected to be hot,warned Ms Fu.

The key to preventing thespread of the disease is to ensuresmall dengue clusters do not growbigger, she said.

This is where the volunteers can

step in, by spreading the messagein small dengue clusters, leavingNEA officers to focus their efforts inareas where there are bigger out-breaks.

“As the number of active clus-

ters grows, NEA has to focus on thereal big ones, so we need additionaland ongoing help from the commu-nity,” she said, stressing the needto get residents to take charge ofcleanliness in their own areas.

“It’s important for every one ofus to be always on the lookout.”

The volunteers, accompanied byat least one NEA officer, will godoor to door handing out around100,000 copies of a checklist across87 constituencies from now untilOctober.

The checklist comes in the formof a door hanger. It includes stepsthat residents can take to keep theirhomes and neighbourhoods mos-quito-free, such as turning over un-used pails and removing stagnantwater. Dengue is a viral infectiontransmitted by the female Aedesmosquito, and according to NEA,homes are where most mosquitobreeding habitats are found.

Yesterday, 300 volunteers fromthe People’s Association’s Commu-nity Emergency Response Teamwere taught prevention measuresat the anti-dengue drive in Yishun.

Ms Fu, who is also Minister inthe Prime Minister’s Office and Sec-ond Minister for Foreign Affairs, lat-er visited three homes to spread themessage.

One of the volunteers ,24-year-old undergraduate JosephOng, said raising awareness amonghis neighbours about dengue bene-fits him as well.

“If there is a high dengue threataround my home, I won’t feel se-cure either,” he said.

mellinjm@sph.com.sg

A young boy found wanderingalong Marina Promenade lastMonday is believed to have cometo Singapore with his father, whothen left him here and returned toHong Kong.

A 45-year-old man has beenarrested in Hong Kong inconnection with the case, policein Singapore said yesterday.

See >>Top News Pages 2-3

Swimmer Joseph Schooling andshooters Jasmine Ser and MartinaVeloso came up just short in theirquests for medals at the GlasgowCommonwealth Games yesterday.

And SEA Gamesmarathon championMok Ying Ren (right)also withdrew fromhis Glasgow racewith a shininjury.See >>SportPages 46-48

index

weather/tides ................... 23letters .............................. 38comics ........................... L13tv listings ....................... L14horoscopes ..................... L14

For the first time, the parentsof a passenger who died in theMalaysia Airlines Flight MH17tragedy have arrived at thecrash site in eastern Ukraine.

“We have promised ourdaughter we will come here,”Mrs Angela Dyczynski saidyesterday, stricken by thescene of devastation. With herwas her husband GeorgeDyczynski, a doctor.

The Australian couple leftflowers for their daughterFatima, a space scientist whowas among the 298 peoplekilled on the flight believed tohave been downed by amissile strike on July 17.

“We believe she’s alive,” DrDyczynski told The Australiannewspaper before arriving inUkraine on Friday. He saidthey wanted to find their onlychild. “We are still at the siteand we are now visitinganother piece of wreckage,” hesaid yesterday.See >>Top News Page 4, WorldPage 18 and Think Page 37

PHOTO: AFP

Over 2,000 volunteersto spread message;

number of infectionscrosses 11,600 mark

To subscribe, call 6388-3838 orgo to sphsubscription.com.sg

Door-to-door driveto warn residents

about dengue

HK boy ‘dumpedin Singapore’

No joy for S’poreathletes at Games

Parents’ grief atMH17 crash site

JULY 27, 2014 ■ 88 PAGES IN FOUR PARTS ■ MCI (P) 072/02/2014

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