By Amresh Gunasingham
HAND, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has continued spreading across the island, taking the number of cases past the 1,000 mark last week for the first time this year.
Last week, 1,261 children were diagnosed with it, up from 982 from the week before; the number of cases has been at or above the epidemic threshold of 679 cases a week for the last eight weeks.
Cumulatively this year, 20,249 children have come down with this usually mild childhood infection, almost twice the norm seen in the last five years.
Of the number, 259 or 1.3 per cent have needed hospitalisation.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the majority of cases have been mild; children who caught the infection were mostly those with poor nutritional habits, which lowered their resistance.
Earlier this week, the MOH put another childcare centre, My First Skool in Toa Payoh, on its online 'watch list'.