Dengue cases near 10,000 mark, 5 deaths in as many days

Dengue figures continued to spiral upwards with the total number of cases nearing the 10,000 mark. More than 1,800 cases were reported in the past five days, taking the total number of cases so far this year to 9,438.

Dengue figures continued to spiral upwards with the total number of cases nearing the 10,000 mark. More than 1,800 cases were reported in the past five days, taking the total number of cases so far this year to 9,438.

Patients get a routine check-up inside a dengue ward of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, in New Delhi. (HT Photo)

Of the 1,832 fresh cases, 1,076 are from Delhi, says data released by the municipal corporations on Thursday. The cut-off date in the latest statistics is October 8.

There had been a slight dip in the number of new cases registered the previous week, which had gone down from 2,191 to a little more than 1,600 last week. However, the figures have gone up again this week.

“Last week, the hospital was packed. We had around 40-50 admissions of dengue and suspected dengue cases every day. Now, the numbers have gone down by at least 30%,” said Dr Suhas Parnami, deputy medical superintendent at BL Kapur Super Speciality hospital.

“I have noticed that in the past five to seven days the numbers had gone down, but they have started going up again,” said Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, senior consultant, internal medicine at Indraprastha Apollo hospital.

“Environmental factors have a role to play. Usually, we have seen that when a large number of people are affected, the numbers start going down only by Diwali. However, this year the numbers spiked earlier than usual, so, it could go down early too. But there will be fluctuations in the statistics in the coming weeks,” he said, explaining the dengue cycle.

Five more people have succumbed to dengue in the city in five days, taking the toll to 30. An unofficial count by HT pegs the figure at 43 -- the cases being confirmed by individual hospitals.

“There is a committee that needs to confirm whether a death reported by the hospital is a dengue death. The process takes around two or three days. So, we cannot declare every death immediately,” said Satyendar Jain, Delhi health minister.

The private hospitals have made provisions for extra beds and have created separate billing categories following a government directive to provide extra beds for dengue patients at half the lowest bed-price of the hospital. They had been asked to ramp up bed strength in view of the rising number of cases.