Dengue Claims Another Victim in Delhi Taking the Toll to 46

Even after weeks of concentrated efforts to control dengue in the capital, 69 new cases were reported here and a woman died of the deadly mosquito-borne virus Tuesday.

The identity of the woman was not immediately known. With her death, the total death toll in the capital has increased to 46.

"She was admitted in one of the smaller hospitals Oct 16 and her condition was deteriorating," said N.K. Yadav, health officer with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The 69 new dengue patients have taken the number of confirmed cases in Delhi to 2,178.

Even though deaths continued to be reported in the capital, Yadav maintained the number of cases were coming down.

"We have only received 41 new cases in the past 24-hours but because of successive holidays, a few hospitals had not sent their dengue data earlier. We have now added the old cases to the present list making the total number of cases 69," said Yadav.

The declining signs of dengue were also visible at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) where most of the dengue cases were brought in. In the past 24 hours, only 18 new cases were reported here while 30 patients were discharged.

"We are looking after 169 confirmed cases at present while 40 suspected patients are under observation," said D.K. Sharma, medical superintendent of AIIMS.

Though there are signs of the viral being on the decline in north India, other parts of the country reported 7,557 cases and 126 deaths, said health officials.

"The sharp increase could be because some hospitals sent the list of patients late due to the holidays in the previous week," said D.S. Negi, health secretary Delhi.

Out of the total cases, 1,379 cases were from Delhi while 794 cases were from the states close to the national capital. Health officials said 234 cases were from Haryana, 420 cases from Uttar Pradesh and 16 cases from Rajasthan.

Apart from Delhi, the maximum number of dengue cases was reported from Rajasthan (909) followed by Kerala (834), Gujarat (456), West Bengal (627), Uttar Pradesh (513), Tamil Nadu (308), Punjab (586), Maharashtra (582), Haryana (305), Karnataka (92) and Andhra Pradesh (79).

Chikungunya is also reportedly on the decline as the number of cases reported in the country stood at 1,653, two less that the previous total.

Health officials said a total number of 29 chikungunya cases were reported from Delhi.

Outside Delhi, the number of confirmed chikungunya cases reported are - Maharashtra (679) followed by Karnataka (294), Andhra Pradesh (248), Gujarat (170), Tamil Nadu (111), Madhya Pradesh (62), Kerala (38), Rajasthan (24) and Pondicherry (9).

Source-IANS
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