23 new cases of dengue reported on Thursday

With 23 new cases reported from the city on Thursday, the total number of people affected with dengue fever this year has touched 820.

With 23 new cases reported from the city on Thursday, the total number of people affected with dengue fever this year has touched 820.

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Five people, including a one-and-a-half-year-old boy, have succumbed to the disease so far this season, the latest being on October 14 when a 28-year-old woman died due to dengue hemorrhagic fever at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Though the authorities had anticipated the dengue figures to cross 800 this year, what has come as a surprise for them is the spurt in the number of chikungunya cases.

With 10 more cases of the mosquito-borne disease reported on Thursday, the total number of people affected with

the disease has reached 54 so far this year. Last year, 33 people had tested positive for the disease.

“The disease was reported for the first time in the city last year, as before that only those who travelled to southern states would get the infection. Once the disease starts transmitting locally, it tends to grow. That’s what has happened with chikungunya,” said Dr VK Monga, chairman of MCD’s public health committee.

As the authorities were taking measures to contain dengue and chikungunya, another mosquito-borne disease — Japanese Encephalitis (JE), which affects the brain, has killed more than 500 children in Uttar Pradesh.