Dengue case count crosses 1,000-mark
New Delhi: Over 1,000 cases of dengue have been reported in the national Capital this year, with more than 280 fresh cases logged in the last one week, according to a civic report released on Monday.
Of the total count of dengue cases recorded in Delhi this season, 665 have been recorded this month till October 23.
Cases of the vector-borne disease have been rising in the city in the last two weeks, and the first death due to it in Delhi was recorded on October 18.
The deceased was identified as Mamta Kashyap, aged about 35, and was a resident of Sarita Vihar in south Delhi. She died of dengue late September at a private hospital here. According to the civic report on vector-borne diseases released on Monday, one death due to dengue and a total of 1,006 dengue cases have been recorded this season till October 23, which is the highest cases count since 2018 for the same period. The total number of cases this year till October 16 had stood at 723. So, 283 fresh cases have been logged in one week.
The number of cases reported for the January 1-October 16 period in the previous three years were — 489 (2020); 833 (2019) and 1,310 (2018), as per the report. A total of 1,072 cases and one death, were logged in the entire year in 2020, according to the report releasd by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the nodal agency for tabulating data on vector-borne diseases in the city. The number of deaths due to dengue in years preceding to 2020, had stood at — two (2019); four (2018); 10 (2017); and 10 (2016), according to the official tally maintained by the SDMC.
The 665 cases reported in October till date, is by far the highest number of cases recorded in a month this year.
Meanwhile, the war of words between the Aam Aadmi Party (running the Delhi government) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (running MCDs) continued over who was responsible for the rise in cases this year. While the Delhi BJP chief blames unusual rains and the Delhi government's alleged inability to control waterlogging for the uptick in cases, the AAP highlighted that the MCDs, under the BJP, were incompetent and that their hospitals did not have the adequate medicines to tend to dengue and malaria patients.
