NEW DELHI: The city is facing an outbreak of dengue. According to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which released data after withholding it for seven weeks, the case tally stands at 3,013. A death due to the disease has also been reported.
The city recorded 348 dengue cases till the previous report, which the MCD made public on August 7. Around 105 cases were reported in the first week of August. Since then, 2,665 cases have been added to the tally. The figures from August and September show a grimmer picture.
In a mere seven weeks, the city logged 2,770 dengue cases, a jump of over 750% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year when 356 cases were recorded.
During the same period, the city reported 1,621 cases in 2017; 432 in 2018; 242 in 2019; 235 in 2020; and 1,413 in 2021.
Though the MCD has claimed that one death has been reported due to dengue this year, hospitals have reported multiple deaths of dengue patients. The Centre-run RML hospital last week stated that four patients have died due to dengue.
The city saw its biggest dengue outbreak with 15,867 cases and 60 fatalities reported in 2015. The second highest tally and toll were reported in 2021 with 9,613 cases and 23 fatalities.
According to the MCD, a trend has been set in the last few years where the maximum number of cases of dengue and other vector-borne diseases are recorded in September.
The cases are the highest reported in the last seven years and put a question mark on the tall claims made by the AAP, which is ruling the civic body. The party stated that an extensive campaign against vector-borne diseases is being carried out on a war footing with checks and penalties for the violators.
More than one lakh legal notices and 27,100 penalties have been issued for violations during the inspection of households and other premises for detecting the breeding of mosquito larvae in the last few months.
In a recent review meeting, MCD Mayor from AAP, Shelly Oberoi stated that the dengue situation is under control.