Delhi: Seven more dengue cases take the overall count to 133

Delhi has registered seven more dengue cases over the past week taking the overall case count this year to 133 cases, the mosquito borne disease report issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday showed

Delhi has registered seven more dengue cases over the past week taking the overall case count this year to 133 cases, the mosquito borne disease report issued by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday showed. The city also reported 22 malaria and eight chikungunya cases up to June 18, 2022, the report said.

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With the capital city already receiving pre-monsoon showers and the monsoon expected to reach Delhi by June-end, the registered count of dengue cases has been on a higher side this year. In comparison, the city had reported 32 dengue cases in 2021 (till June 18), 20 cases in 2020 and 14 cases in 2019, MCD officials said.

However, a senior official from the public health department said the higher case count can be attributed to the significant rise in the number of clinics and hospitals from where case reports are being submitted after dengue was declared a notifiable disease in October last year.

“As rains are about to start in a week or two, people should check their rooftops, and clear unattended objects that can become mosquito breeding locations,” the official said, asking not to be named.

Dengue along with other vector-borne diseases such as chikungunya and malaria were declared to be “notifiable diseases” under the Epidemic Diseases Act, according to a notification issued by the government of Delhi on October 14, 2021.

The declaration of dengue as a notifiable disease now makes it compulsory for all private hospitals and clinics to provide information to the government about any such case that they receive. However, despite the notification, the high proportion of untraced cases, owing to incomplete address and personal details of patients, remains a cause of worry for officials.

The report issued on Monday states that of the 133 reported dengue cases, 84 cases, or about 63%of the total cases,remained untraced. “The lack of address and communication details of patients becomes an obstacle in taking preventive measures such as sprinkling of larvicides or fogging in the area from where the patient resides,” the official quoted above said.

The action taken report of the corporation shows that 32,386 houses were found to have mosquito larvae so far this year, a count that is the highest in at least the past four years. “We have issued 33,470 legal notices to property owners and contractors for allowing mosquitogenic conditions and fines have been issued in 3,305 cases,” the MCD official added.

While the Delhi high court in a hearing on May 26, 2022 had asked Delhi to explore the proposal to increase the quantum of fine for mosquito breeding ₹5,000 to ₹50,000, the government is yet to do so.

Last year, Delhi recorded 9,613 dengue cases and 23 fatalities, making it the second worst annual outbreak on record, behind the dengue outbreak of 2015 had led to 60 deaths and 15,867 infections.