6 more dengue deaths in city take year’s toll to 15, highest since 2015
The 15 dengue deaths recorded this year are second only to the 60 fatalities recorded during the severe 2015 outbreak, which left nearly 16,000 people infected in the city.
The city’s three municipal corporations added six dengue deaths from October and November to the Delhi’s toll, adding to the nine fatalities recorded previously, and giving the Capital its second most fatal dengue season on record. Authorities also added 699 cases from the preceding week to the city’s annual tally, a sharp drop from the 1,148 cases it added last Monday.
The 15 dengue deaths recorded this year are second only to the 60 fatalities recorded during the severe 2015 outbreak, which left nearly 16,000 people infected in the city.
The deaths were added to the official weekly report after an expert death audit committee meeting on December 2 where hospital records were reviewed to confirm that dengue was the cause of death and that the infection was contracted in Delhi.
Delhi has so far in 2021 logged 8,975 dengue cases, the most in a year since 2015. A bulk of this year’s infections was reported in November, during which month authorities logged 6,739 cases. This is unusual for the city’s dengue season, which usually peaks in October and begins to peter out. Officials have, however, said the wave was likely delayed due to the late arrival of monsoon.
To be sure, there was an increase in the number of cases and deaths in the city after mid-October when the Delhi government made the disease notifiable, meaning all hospitals, nursing homes, and testing centres had to mandatorily report any dengue cases, along with instances of malaria and chikungunya.
“We cannot compare the number of cases or deaths reported this year to previous years. This is because reporting has definitely increased because the disease was made notifiable. However, yes, we did see a higher number of cases this year because of the high and intermittent rainfall,” said a senior official from the Delhi government.
Of the six people whose deaths were added to the report on Monday, two were children. Of the 15 people who have died of dengue in Delhi this year, eight have been children. This week’s report added the deaths of 13-year-old boy from Madangir who died on November 15 and an 11-year-old boy from Malviya Nagar who died on October 22, according to the municipal corporations.
There were several more deaths reported by city hospitals, but most of them were in people who acquired the infection from outside the state and came to Delhi to receive treatment.
“As most of the people coming to city hospitals reach here only when they have a severe disease, they are more likely to die,” said the official quoted above.
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