NEW DELHI: More than 900 cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital in October, taking the infection tally of the vector-borne disease to 1,876 so far this year, according to a civic report issued on Tuesday.
The 939 cases, recorded till October 19, is nearly half of the total number of cases of dengue logged this year. The city has also recorded 194 cases of malaria and 38 cases of chikungunya in 2022, the report said. The dengue infection tally had stood at 1,572 till October 12.
Over 300 new cases were logged in the week that followed, taking the total number of cases of dengue reported this year in Delhi to 1,876 till October 19, according to the report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Out of the total reported cases, 693 were reported in September. It is also the highest number of dengue cases logged during the January 1 – October 19 period since 2017, when the corresponding figure was 3,272, the report stated.
No death has been reported so far this year due to the disease, while in 2021, dengue had claimed 23 lives, the report said.
In 2015, the city witnessed a massive dengue outbreak, with the number of cases crossing 10,600 in October. It was Delhi’s worst dengue outbreak since 1996. According to the MCD report issued on Tuesday, the city recorded 23 dengue cases in January, 16 in February, 22 in March, 20 in April, 30 in May, 32 in June, 26 in July and 75 in August.
Cases of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria are usually reported between July and November, sometimes stretching till mid-December.
According to officials of MCD’s health department, symptoms of vector-borne diseases include high fever, headache, rash and muscle and joint pain, which are quite similar to that of COVID-19. Last year, 9,613 dengue cases were recorded in the city, the highest since 2015, along with 23 deaths – the highest since 2016.
The MCD report stated that breeding of mosquito larvae has been found at 1,51,386 households this year till October 19. Authorities have issued 1,07,099 legal notices for mosquitogenic conditions, and 41,904 prosecutions were launched so far.