5,151 dengue cases in current month in Delhi

New Delhi: Nearly 2,200 fresh cases of dengue have been reported in the last one week, taking the seasons total to around a whopping 6,000 as hospitals across the city continued to be flooded with patients affected by the mosquito-borne fever in which 33 people have died so far.

According to official figure released today, at least 5,151 patients were found to be down with dengue between September 1-26, making it the worst month for the outbreak of the disease in the last six years. A total 5,982 people have been affected in the current year.

The total number of people succumbing to dengue, as given by individual hospitals, is 33 but as per official figure the death toll still stands at 17.

Officials said the number of affected people is all set to overtake the total figure of 2010 when 6,259 cases were reported which was the highest in the last six years.

Incidentally, between January 1 and September 26 in 2010, the total number of cases was 3,013, almost half of the cases this year during the same period. In 2010, only 8 people had died of dengue.

Hospitals across Delhi remained inundated with patients as long queue could be seen in almost all hospitals and fever clinics.

Officials said 511 new cases have been reported during September 25- 26.

Among the 17 victims as announced by civic authorities, 13 of them are males and four females. The youngest victim is six-month-old Anshika who died on August 28 at Hindu Rao Hospital in north Delhi. The oldest victim is 79-year-old Jagdish Lal Dawar from Shalimar Bagh area, who died at the Maharaja Agrasen Hospital here.

Out of the total 5,982 cases, north Delhi recorded the highest at 1,734, south Delhi at 1,633 while east Delhi posted the lowest with 754 cases.

Of all civic zones in the city, Najafgarh Zone of South Delhi Municipal Corporation has recorded the highest number with 588 cases, said a senior official of the SDMC, which compiles dengue report on behalf of all the civic bodies in the city.

Of the total number of cases this year, 214 were reported from areas outside the jurisdiction of the municipal corporations. While 72 cases were reported from Uttar Pradesh, 44 of those diagnosed with the disease came from Haryana., 69 of them came from other states.

Last year, the city had reported three deaths and recorded nearly 1,000 cases.