NEW DELHI: The city has recorded a total of 221 dengue cases till July 31 this year. While the figure is relatively small, data from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) shows that the city’s mosquito-breeding indicators have shown a sharp rise in the second half of July, with the number of houses found positive for breeding jumping more than 2.5 times in a fortnight.
According to data from the civic body accessed by the newspaper, 20,431 houses were found positive for mosquito breeding between July 15 and July 31, as compared to 8,011 houses during July 1-15.
This rise was noted after an intensification of surveillance drives. The MCD conducted 23.8 lakh house visits in the second half of July, against 14.33 lakh visits in the first half. However, the rise in number of positive houses was not merely due to increased inspections, as an official from the MCD attributed the jump to an actual rise in mosquito breeding.
Around 0.56% of houses visited in the first half of July were found positive, as compared with around 0.86% in the second half of July, indicating that the increase was not just due to the larger number of houses being inspected.
The civic body has also taken several preventive measures. It conducted 38,537 house sprays, issued 15,080 legal notices and carried out 757 challans, along with special drives at construction sites, police stations and malkhanas, government and private hospitals and group housing societies between July 15 and July 31. However, the civic body has not characterised the increase in breeding as evidence of an impending dengue outbreak.