With 417 fresh cases of dengue reported in the past one week, the total number of people infected with the vector borne disease has reached 918 in the national Capital. According to a report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday 92 cases of malaria and three cases of chikungunya also reported this year.
Out of the total cases, a total of 396 dengue cases have been recorded this year till September 19 in the capital. The remaining cases traced in the city belong to others states and some are untraced.
A senior MCD official familiar with the matter said that the reason behind the rising number of untraced cases is that the patients do not provide their current address or full address, due to which when the hospital officials visit their places, the patients are not available. “Most of the cases that are reported in the capital are from the adjoining states, who visit Delhi for the better treatment. Around 60 per cent cases of Dengue reported in Delhi are either from any other state or untraceable. The most important thing to curb the dengue cases in the city is that the people should avoid the mosquito breeding in their houses,” he added.
Amid the spike in cases of dengue in Delhi, mosquito breeding has been found at public places and government offices, including a police academy and a metro station, during an anti-dengue drive following which legal measures were taken by the civic authorities.
In a statement on Monday, it said, MCD takes "strict action" of breeding of mosquitoes are found at any site, and added, it has "started proceedings to lodge a police complaint" against a private construction company, undertaking construction work at IIT-Delhi campus in Hauz Khas, since "heavy breeding of mosquitoes were found at the site". An immediate reaction was not available from the institution or other associated authorities.
Cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between July and November, but the period may stretch till mid-December. Last year, 9,613 dengue cases, the highest number of cases of the vector-borne disease recorded in the national capital in a year since 2015, and 23 deaths were reported. In the years prior to 2021, the total number of dengue cases reported were -- 4,431 (2016), 4,726 (2017), 2,798 (2018), 2,036 (2019) and 1,072 (2020), the report said.
In 2015, the city had witnessed a massive outbreak of dengue when the number of dengue cases reported crossed 10,600 in October itself, making it the worst outbreak of the vector-borne disease in Delhi since 1996. The number of dengue fatalities logged in 2021 was the highest in the national capital since 2016, when the officially reported death count was 10. Delhi had recorded two deaths due to dengue in 2019, four in 2018, and 10 each in 2017 and 2016. The report also stated that two cases of malaria and seven cases of chikungunya have been reported so far this year in Delhi.
