THE government assured the nation yesterday that it was capable of preventing a wider spread of malaria, even as the number of cases increased to 49.

According to the country’s health minister Horace Dalley, the aggressive containment measures by the ministry have kept the island at a low-risk level.

Dalley, who was flanked by high-level health officials at a press conference held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston yesterday, said 23 people who were affected by malaria have been treated and released from hospital, while another 22 were still in hospital.

“We are handling the situation in a very clinical and scientific manner; for example, even the area under surveillance is calculated to be a radius of one kilometre from the first case, taking into consideration the flying range of the mosquito vector,” the minister said. “The nation can be assured that we are going to succeed in halting the chain of transmission of this disease. So there is no need to panic,” he added.

At the same time, Minister Dalley said the ministry has strengthened the efficiency of the National Public Health Laboratory with the addition of four new microscopes to cope with the workload and to provide test results within 24 hours.

Staff has also been redeployed from other institutions such as the University Hospital of the West Indies and Cornwall Regional Hospital to deal with malaria patients at hospitals where they have been admitted.

The minister said, too, that the ministry has decided to treat persons who were not considered serious in their homes and communities. “These persons will be given the first dose of medication by the health worker and then enough tablets to complete the course over the next two days,” he said.

Additionally, the health minister said there was currently an adequate supply of drugs to treat persons infected. However, he said more supplies would be provided from the $31 million approved by the Cabinet earlier this week for the anti-malaria programme. The ministry, he added, has been promised assistance from the Pan American Health Organisation and Caribbean Community (Caricom) partners such as Haiti, Guyana, Suriname and

The Bahamas.

In the meantime, the minister announced that 50 health workers, divided into seven teams, have been working in the affected communities to identify and destroy mosquito-breeding sites. To date they have found and treated more that 400 mosquito-breeding sites.

“Yesterday, our local specialists, accompanied by a PAHO expert in entomology did an aerial reconnaissance of the communities, facilitated by the Jamaica Defence Force Air Wing,” Dalley said. “The purpose of the exercise was to identify those breeding sites difficult to find from the ground level. The results of this exercise are now being analysed.”

The breeding sites that have been identified include Marcus Garvey Drive, Industrial Terrace, May Pen Cemetery in Kingston and Hartlands and Whitewaters in St Catherine.

And to increase public awareness, the health ministry has implemented a comprehensive public education programme, and has already distributed literature to more than 2,000 households in the infected communities in Kingston and St Catherine.

“Other components of the public education plans are being rolled out today (yesterday). Radio advertisements are being aired and additional educational literature are being distributed in the electronic and print response,” he said.

But Dalley said the ministry was expecting to uncover more cases of malaria despite the |mosquito control activities implemented. This, he said, was a result of the incubation for malaria, which is between seven and 14 days which has not yet expired.

“This means that infected persons will not begin to show symptoms of the disease until seven to 14 days after being bitten by the infected female anopheles mosquito,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister Dalley said contrary to travel advisories that have been issued, person travelling to Jamaica need not to use prophylaxis as confirmed malaria cases remain confined to four communities.