Nearly 4,000 cases and 35 deaths due to vector-borne diseases have been reported in the national Capital so far this year.
According to municipal corporation’s data released on Monday, 2,625 chikungunya cases and 1,378 dengue cases have been found. Till September 12, AIIMS laboratory has noted 1,748 chikungunya cases.
Compared with the previous figure 1,057 released last week, a jump of 150 per cent is seen with 1,568 of them being recorded in the last one week.
According to the SDMC data, dengue deaths remain 4 so far. With the latest death due to dengue at lok Nayak Hospital, the dengue fatalities reached 20.
“An adult man died of dengue in August last month at our hospital. There was one dengue suspected death in July when a girl from Jaffrabad had died. On Saturday, there was a death of a patient due to co-morbidity,” Dr JC Passsey, Medical Superintendent at lok Nayak Hospital told The Pioneer.
With 220 new cases of dengue have been reported in the last week while 607 cases have been recorded this month till September 17, said municipal official.
NDMC reported 134 cases, EDMC with 86 whereas SDMC recorded 302 dengue cases so far, stated MCD statistics.
For chikungunya statistics, SDMC has recorded 304 cases, followed by 244 in areas under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and 80 under the East Delhi Municipal Corporation. 714 cases were reported from other States, mentioned the municipal figures.
Since there is chikungunya outbreak this season, the disease has claimed 15 lives with deaths being reported at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Apollo, Hindu Rao and AIIMS, which The Pioneer reported earlier.
Dr Atul Kakar, vice chairman of Internal medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said definitely the numbers for chikungyunya are much higher in due to the outbreak this year. “As the peak time for vector-diseases is September, vector-borne diseases are going to rise in the coming week. However, from onset of October, there will be slight decrease in the cases.”
Dr lalit Dar, virologist at AIIMS told The Pioneer, “There is nothing to panic due to CHIK V outbreak. Keep body hydrated and intake of fluid is must for speedy recovery for those who are suffering.”
The symptoms of chikungunya are similar to dengue, but experts said chikungunya is generally not “life-threatening” but in rare cases can trigger complications which prove fatal, especially in elderly and children.
All private and Government hospitals are flooded with dengue and chikungunya patients with thousands suffering from acute high grade fever (viral fever). In the need of the hour, additional beds have been placed to accommodate thousands of patients at all the hospitals in the national Capital, said doctors.
In 2015, only six cases were reported in June, while 36 were registered in July. In 1996, a severe outbreak of dengue had occurred in Delhi when about 10,252 cases and 423 deaths were reported.