kolkata: Dengue cases have gone up in the city in the last one month as more than 1,000 patients have been affected with the disease since August 3.
According to data, around 300 dengue cases were reported over a span of seven months from January to July.
Most of the infected patients were reported from South Kolkata.
Many cases were reported from the added areas of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). The city has seen a maximum rise in dengue cases in August.
The number of infected patients this year has overtaken last year’s figure. In 2022, around 900 dengue cases were reported while this year, more than 1,300 cases have been reported so far in Kolkata, sources said.
Most of the dengue cases have been reported from Tollygunge, New Garia, Behala, New Alipore, Chetla, Kasba, Park Circus and Cossipore.
The city witnessed low dengue cases in 2020 and 2021. According to sources, dengue cases have gone up in July compared to the figure reported last year. Both private and state-run hospitals have been seeing a rise in dengue cases recently. Health experts in the city observed that last year, 75 per cent of the patients suffering from various vector-borne diseases are asymptomatic.
Earlier, the state Health department had alerted all civic bodies, warning that dengue and malaria cases may go up in the next five months. According to Health department statistics, during the last year maximum infected cases were reported between August and December. To ensure that the infected cases do not go up during this period this year, all the civic bodies had been asked to conduct surveillance drives in all the under-construction high-rise buildings and also in various households to ensure there is no accumulated water. The civic bodies have also been directed to spread insecticides on a regular basis.
Malaria mosquitoes’ larva normally thrives in water bodies which are bigger compared to those where dengue larva develops.