The Capital reported 243 dengue cases over the past week, and one death — the first this year. As per a civic report on Monday, the deceased was a 35-year-old woman from south Delhi’s Sarita Vihar, who succumbed to the vector-borne disease in late September at a private hospital.
The caseload for the current month stands at 382, including 139 cases reported till October 9. A total of 723 cases have been recorded this season (till October 16), the highest for the same period since 2018 — which saw 1,020 cases.
In September, the city reported 217 cases, which was also the highest case count for the month since 2018. Delhi recorded 1,072 cases and one death in 2020, 2,036 cases and two deaths in 2019, and 2,798 cases and four deaths in 2018.
South Delhi recorded the highest cases this week at 61, followed by north Delhi with 52 cases.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Mukesh Suryan said maximum efforts are being made to combat vector-borne diseases.
However, residents said that the steps taken by the civic authorities are insufficient.
A resident of Sant Nagar said she has not had any fogging or fumigation done in her vicinity.
Another resident of Jamia Nagar said that the fogging and fumigation are not carried out on a regular basis.
He added, “This monsoon, municipal authorities have come once or twice in the last few months. There are narrow by-lanes which are not fumigated and most of the fogging is done only on main roads.”
At LNJP Hospital, the largest Delhi government-run facility, there has been an increase in patients coming with fever and dengue, doctors said.
“Nineteen patients have been admitted with dengue in the last four days. All of them are stable or recovering. We have opened two new wards for fever cases,” Dr. Suresh Kumar, medical director of LNJP Hospital, said.
Dr. Ritu Saxena, deputy medical superintendent of the hospital, said the separate wards were set up about a week ago.
“We get about 50-60 fever patients every day. Yesterday, of all the samples of admitted patients that were sent for testing, nine came positive for dengue and some results are awaited,” Dr. Saxena said.
She added that COVID-19 tests are being done for patients coming to the hospital with fever, but very few people are testing positive for the virus and that “many dengue cases are coming very late to us”.
Dr. R.S. Mishra, director of internal medicine, Max Hospital, said currently, there is a significant rise in patients with fever and many of them have dengue.
“Most of these patients are being managed at OPD while some require hospitalisation; a few need ICU care due to the severity of illness. Last year, we had had a very few patients but if we compare with the last five years, the situation is not alarmingly bad,” Dr. Mishra said.