Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday claimed that there has been a 50 per cent reduction in dengue cases due to the awareness campaign —'10 Hafte, 10 Baje, 10 Minute'.
According to official data, 467 cases of dengue have been registered in Delhi with zero causalities till now, while it was 830 in 2018. The data further shows there has been 'zero casualty' till October 12 this year while four deaths were registered last year during the same period. In 2015, 60 people had lost their lives to dengue.
"The number of unfortunate casualties due to 'vector borne diseases' in the preceding years had been in double figures. The data shows that there has been a steady decline in cases of dengue in Delhi since 2015, when the disease outbreak had claimed 60 lives, but this year Delhi has controlled Dengue beyond all expectations, and even the final number of cases is expected to be very low," read, the official statement issues by Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
Lauding the people's participation in the 'dengue awareness campaign', the CM appealed to the public to continue the '10, hafte 10 baje, 10 minute' campaign and remain alert till 15th November, the period conducive to breeding of the larvae of Aedes mosquito.
"Delhi Government had been warned by experts earlier this year that national Capital could witness deadly 'Dengue strain' this season, keeping this important warning in mind, Chief Minister had directed all the concerned departments to be ready and he himself launched a mega awareness drive for prevention of Dengue. The key to prevention of Dengue is ensuring there is no clean stagnant water in homes and around, which does not allow the Aedes mosquitoes to breed, and therefore dengue cannot spread," said the statement further.
The awareness drive was launched on September 1 of this year and will continue till November 15 to combat vector borne diseases especially dengue. The campaign has garnered a massive support from public and celebrities such as cricketers Virendar Sehwag, Bollywood actors Emran Hashmi, Taapsee Pannu, Swara Bhaskar and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, and several senior journalists, including Rajdeep Sardesai, Nidhi Razdan, Faye D'Souza, have supported the campaign.