First official dengue death recorded in city

According to the Municipal Corporation report on vector-borne diseases released on Monday, till August 8 about 119 cases of vector-borne diseases have been reported with a sharp increase of 125 <g data-gr-id="37">per cent</g> from the last week. The total cases till July end <g data-gr-id="39">was</g> 53 while August’s first week alone saw 66 cases.

The deceased has been identified as a three-year-old boy, Shivam, from Inderpuri area of North Delhi who died last month. 

The SDMC report says: “The boy who belonged to Delhi was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on July 2 and died on July 10. The death notification was given on July 16.” A senior SDMC official said: “Since ELISA test was found positive in this case, this is the first official death, according to Municipal norms.”

As per Municipal norms, only ELISA <g data-gr-id="36">test-confirmed</g> cases are taken in the official death count. At 119, it is also the highest number of cases in the last five years. 

The number of cases from January 1 to August 8 for the last four years are–23 (2014), 41 (2013), 10 (2012), 38 (2011). For the same period in 2010, over 157 cases were reported. Out of the total cases, North Delhi and South Delhi recorded 42 each while 13 cases were reported from East Delhi. 

As many as 15 cases were reported from areas outside the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporations while a case each was reported from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and five from other states. Last year, the city had reported three deaths and recorded nearly 1,000 cases.