E-Paper
Punjab sees uptick in dengue cases, tally nears 5k
Mohali has been the worst-affected, recording 1,414 cases so far. It is followed by Patiala, which has 561 cases. Ludhiana is at the third spot with 402 positive cases.
Punjab recorded 110 fresh dengue cases, taking the season’s total to 4,954 on Tuesday. The state has been recording over 100 positive cases daily for the past few days.
Mohali has been the worst-affected, recording 1,414 cases so far. It is followed by Patiala, which has 561 cases. Ludhiana is at the third spot with 402 positive cases.
Bathinda, Muktsar and Fazilka have also been seeing a spike in cases over the past few days.
Dengue is caused by the dengue virus (DENV) transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes.
In Mohali, health authorities said that the outbreak can be attributed to lack of community participation as people had not drained out stored water resulting in breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes.
Punjab health director Dr Hitender Kaur said, “Over the past few days, there has been an uptick in positive cases, but it is already under control. People should drain out the stored water once a week to avoid dengue breeding. Community participation is the need of the hour.”
Meanwhile, epidemiologists said that the temperature dip would slow down the dengue mosquito breeding process, but the threat from adult mosquitoes looms large.
Private clinics, hospitals under reporting dengue cases
Despite directions from the health department to send blood samples of suspected dengue patients to the government labs for confirmatory ELISA tests, private hospitals and clinics are declaring patients dengue positive merely after conducting Antigen card tests and finding low platelet count. This diagnostic test has not been approved by the government.
As per the health department, ELISA-based test is the best confirmatory test for dengue.
Data reveals that there has been an under-reporting of dengue cases from the private sector in many districts. In some districts, not a single case has been reported from private hospitals.
