Thousands of sterile male mosquitoes were released in Nee Soon East yesterday as part of a National Environment Agency study looking at reducing the incidence of dengue and Zika in Singapore.

It marked the launch of Project Wolbachia's third phase, which aims to find out if the suppression of the Aedes aegypti mosquito population - the primary species responsible for transmitting the two diseases - can be sustained in larger areas.

Dengue cases have been on the rise since December last year, increasing by 560 to 1,071 last month.

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