‘Hepatitis A’ river cleaned up

HULU TERENGGANU: The authorities have cleaned up the river that has been found to be the source of a Hepatitis A outbreak which affected people from three villages here.

Kampung Basung, Kampung Pasir Dula and Padang Setebu were declared as an outbreak area since Sunday after 42 people were admitted to Hulu Terengganu Hospital.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said explained that drastic action was needed to prevent the virus from spreading.

“The department has also conducted a cleaning exercise, including fogging, at the villages.

“We believe the cause of the outbreak came from an orang asli settlement near the water source. Department workers have treated the water source with chlorine,” he said.

He said educational programmes were also held to educate the villagers on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Of the 42 people infected, 27 were from Kampung Basung, 14 from Kampung Pasir Dula and one from Kampung Padang Setebu.

However, nine of them were discharged from hospital recently while the rest were still under treatment.