New Delhi:
More than 1,200 cases of dengue were reported in the national capital in October, bringing the number of infections from the vector-borne disease so far this year above 2,000, according to a public report released on Monday. The 1,238 cases, recorded as of October 26, are more than half of the total number of dengue cases recorded this year.
The city also registered 200 cases of malaria and 40 cases of chikungunya this year, the report said.
The number of dengue infections stood at 1,876 until October 19.
Nearly 300 new cases were registered in the week that followed, bringing the total number of dengue cases reported in Delhi this year to 2,175 to October 26, according to the report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
Of the total number of reported cases, 693 were reported in September.
It is also the highest number of dengue cases recorded during the Jan. 1 to Oct. 26 period since 2017, when the corresponding figure was 3,829, the report said. No deaths have been reported so far this year from the disease, while dengue had claimed 23 lives by 2021, the report said.
In 2015, the city had witnessed a massive outbreak of dengue, with cases exceeding 10,600 in October. It was the worst dengue outbreak in Delhi since 1996.
According to Monday’s MCD report, the city registered 23 cases of dengue in January, 16 in February, 22 in March, 20 in April, 30 in May, 32 in June, 26 in July and 75 in August.
Cases of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria are usually reported between July and November, sometimes until mid-December.
According to MCD health officials, symptoms of vector-borne illness include high fever, headache, rash, and muscle and joint pain, which are quite similar to those of COVID-19, including fever or chills, muscle or body aches. , fatigue and headaches among others.
Last year, 9,613 cases of dengue were recorded in the city, the highest since 2015, along with 23 deaths – the highest since 2016.
In 2018, Delhi had reported 1,595 cases of dengue during the period from January 1 to October 26, according to the report. The corresponding figures in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were 1069, 612 and 1,537 respectively.
Ten deaths from dengue were reported each in 2016 and 2017, four in 2018 and two in 2019.
Official data showed that 4,431 dengue cases were recorded in Delhi in 2016, 4,726 in 2017, 2,798 in 2018, 2,036 in 2019 and 1,072 in 2020.
The MCD report stated that breeding mosquito larvae was found in 1,55,312 households until October 26 this year.
Authorities have issued 1,09,505 legal notices for disease-causing diseases and 42,928 prosecutions have been filed so far.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)