New Delhi
Delhi recorded 111 cases of dengue in a single week ending October 12, taking the total to 467, according to weekly data released by the muncipal corporations of Delhi (MCD).
This is just over half of the 830 cases recorded the previous year during the same period. A total of 2,798 cases of dengue had been recorded in 2018.
Anticipating an increase in the number of cases this year, the Delhi government had launched a 10-week long campaign, urging people to check their homes for mosquito breeding.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday thanked the Delhi residents for their participation in their campaign, which he said resulted in the decline in numbers.
The government had started the ‘10 Hafte, 10 Baje, 10 Minute’ campaign in the first week of September under which people were urged to check for breeding and scrub out vessels containing clean stagnant water every Sunday for 10 weeks at 10 o clock for just 10 minutes to prevent an outbreak.
The aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue takes about eight to 10 days and can breed only in clean water. Cleaning vessels containing clean water disrupts the life cycle of mosquitoes and prevents a population explosion after the monsoons.
{{/usCountry}}The aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue takes about eight to 10 days and can breed only in clean water. Cleaning vessels containing clean water disrupts the life cycle of mosquitoes and prevents a population explosion after the monsoons.
{{/usCountry}}The campaign has completed seven weeks and will conclude after three weeks in mid-November. Kejriwal requested Delhi residents to remain vigilant till the season for dengue was over.
Being cyclic in nature, experts had warned the government that Delhi might see a higher number of dengue cases this year. A decline had been recorded since an outbreak in 2015 that affected nearly 16,000 and killed 60.
“In the years after the 2015 outbreak, we worked on prevention and the number of dengue cases came down by 80%. Experts told us dengue usually makes a comeback in 3 to 4 years, and we were worried there might be a surge again. But our campaign received support and so far the number of cases are lower than last year,” said health minister Satyendar Jain.
There are four strains of dengue virus. The number goes up when a new strain to which people are not immune is in circulation. In 2015, DENV 2 strain was predominant followed by DENV 3, which was predominant for three years.
“There is an increase in the number of cases right now but the infection must have happened in September after the monsoon rains of August. But this year, October has been dry and so the number is not likely to increase a lot. The strain too does not seem to be a virulent one,” said a corporation official.