GUWAHATI: Five more people died of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Assam on Sunday, taking the death toll to 177.
Of the 177, 76 died of JE.
According to official sources, two persons died of JE and the three others of AES. The JE deaths were reported from Darrang and Nalbari districts.
So far, the state has recorded 1,350 JE/AES positive cases, 26 of them on Sunday. The total JE positive cases recorded so far were 348.
The state’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently claimed that the outbreak of the disease was on the decline but several deaths and positive cases are being reported on a daily basis.
The state government has ensured designated beds for JE/AES patients at government hospitals and made treatment free.
The government also put on hold the leaves of doctors and paramedics. It advised people to stay away from pigs, wear full sleeve shirts while in agriculture fields and sleep under mosquito nets.
JE claims over hundred lives in Assam every year. In 2013, 134 people lost their lives to the disease, 165 in 2014, 135 in 2015, 92 in 2016, 87 in 2017 and 94 in 2018.