366 cases of dengue in Delhi

Fourteen cases of dengue were confirmed on Sunday morning, taking the total number of cases of the vector-borne disease in the national capital to 366, a health department official said.

Fourteen cases of dengue were confirmed on Sunday morning, taking the total number of cases of the vector-borne disease in the national capital to 366, a health department official said.

"As of today (Sunday) morning, there were 366 confirmed cases of dengue in Delhi. This is no alarming figure since the numbers of those affected has been consistent," NK Yadav, chief medical officer of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), told IANS.

On Saturday, the total number of cases recorded was 352.

In the past few months there have been two deaths recorded due to dengue - a 15-year-old boy and a nine-year-old boy.

Yadav said temperatures were warmer this year due to lesser rains during the monsoon and, therefore, there was not much breeding of mosquitoes. Last year till Nov 1, a total of 1,070 cases of dengue had been recorded.

"We were well-prepared to handle dengue and our domestic breeding checkers have been taking rounds of their respective areas since May," he said.

But much against the assurances of the MCD that the number of dengue cases in the capital is low, private hospitals have said that in reality the numbers are much higher than what is being said, a claim the civic agency denied.