Six die due to dengue and chikungunya

NEW DELHI: Five more dengue deaths have been reported from hospitals around the city, taking the unofficial death toll of the mosquito borne disease to 25. The Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD) have reported 1,692 cases and 4 dengue deaths till September 24 this year.

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An 8-year-old boy from Gurgaon died of dengue in city’s Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday, the same day he was admitted to the hospital. Three others have died of the disease at Safdarjung Hospital in the last two weeks. A total of 9 people have died of dengue at Safdarjung, the hospital that received one of the highest number of cases of dengue and chikungunya in the city.

Another child, a 5-year-old girl, died of dengue at Lok Nayak hospital on September 10. “She was brought to the hospital on September 9 midnight under severe shock. She was admitted to the ICU immediately but died within three hours,” said Dr JC Passey, medical director of Lok Nayak hospital. Her dengue test came out positive on September 12.

One chikungunya-related death was also reported, taking the unofficial numbers to 16. A 67-year-old man, who had tested positive for chi kun gun ya, died at Safdarjung hospital. “It cannot be termed as chikungunya death because he had other co-morbid conditions like diabetes, kidney failure and cerebral atrophy (progressive loss of brain tissues),” the hospital spokesperson, Poonam Dhanda, said.

However, the government maintains that chi kunguny ahas killed no one. On September 17, the Delhi government had released the report of its death review committee, which had investigated 13 deaths. The report said, “Deaths due to chikungunya: nil.”