The Delhi Government on Monday claimed that its special awareness campaign "10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute' has helped to keep dengue cases this year at the "lowest" level in comparison to the past five years.
According to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates the data on vector-borne diseases in the city at least 177 cases of dengue reported in a week, taking the total number of patients suffering from the disease to 644 this year so far. Last
year, 1,020 such cases were reported till October, the report stated.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said that Delhiites are on course to defeat dengue this year. The minister appealed to the residents to keep up their efforts to ensure that there are no stagnant water collecting points in and around their houses and neighbourhoods, in which Aedes Mosquitoes can breed. "Delhi is on course to defeating dengue this year. Latest figures show that this year so far, the cases of dengue have been the lowest in last five year. I appeal to everyone to keep up the prevention and awareness efforts for next few weeks," he said. The data released by Municipal Corporation till October 19 shows there has been no dengue death in Delhi this year so far.
While cases of Malaria witnessed an upward
trend with 535 cases already reported till now in which 76 fresh cases traced last week. Last year, 411 patients were diagnosed with malaria till October 19.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had launched a mass anti-dengue campaign on September 1, urging people to inspect their house for stagnant water every Sunday for ten minutes.
The report also stated that five new cases of chikungunya also reported in last week, taking the total number to 11. As per the data, mosquito-breeding has been reported in at least 161396 households and 128599 legal notices have been issued this year. Besides 15792 number of prosecution has been launched by the civic bodies, the report stated.
The awareness campaign was launched by the Government from September 1 and November 15 to combat dengue has garnered a massive support from public and several other well-known personalities across the country, including cricketers, Bollywood actors and famous journalists. Many personalities including actors Emran Hashmi, Taapsee Pannu, Swara Bhaskar and filmmaker Mahesh Bhat, and several senior journalists, including Rajdeep Sardesai, Nidhi Razdan, Faye D'Souza, have supported the campaign.
Kejriwal had said participation of these public personalities will inspire common people to take precautions in combating this vector-borne disease. Kejriwal had also directed his colleagues in the Cabinet to work towards encouraging mass participation in the third week of the campaign. Last year, 2,798 dengue cases and four deaths were recorded in Delhi.