Dengue Fears Makes Pakistan Shut Schools

Pakistan's most populous province shut educational institutions Wednesday in a bid to control an outbreak of dengue fever that has killed at least nine people since last month, officials said. Schools, colleges and universities across the central province of Punjab, where the disease has affected nearly 5,000 people so far, will remain closed for 10 days for fumigation.

Local media said nearly two dozen people have died, including a senior government official, over the past two months.

But officials have confirmed nine deaths, including a 14-year-old boy who died in Lahore's Children Hospital on Wednesday.

Punjab government spokesman Ikhlaq Ahmed said on Wednesday that 4,989 cases had been reported in the province so far, of which 4,118 were in Lahore alone.

Scores more cases were reported in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said a team of doctors from Sri Lanka was due in Lahore late Wednesday to assist with efforts to contain the spread of the disease.

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"We want to benefit from their experience in tackling dengue fever," he said and added 150 spray machines were being imported from Germany and anti-dengue medicines from India.

Source-AFP