Dengue in Delhi! 69 cases of mosquito-borne disease in national capital this year

Eight fresh cases of dengue have been reported in the last one week in Delhi, taking the tally to 69, according to a civic report released on Monday. Till April 2 this year, 61 cases of dengue were recorded in the city. Eight fresh cases have been reported in the last one week, it said, adding that at least 69 dengue cases have been recorded this year. The city had reported 23 cases in January, 16 in February and 22 in March. Eight cases have been recorded this month till April 9. For the January 1-April 9 period, nine cases were logged last year, six cases in 2020 and seven in 2019, while 12 cases were logged in 2018 and 15 in 2017, the report stated. Cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between July and November, but the period may stretch till mid-December.

This year, cases are being recorded early and the civic bodies have taken some preparatory actions to check its spread. From earmarking high-risk wards to delineating roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has prepared an action plan on prevention of dengue and other vector-borne diseases, officials had earlier said. The EDMC had said an action plan with short-term and long-term vision been prepared. South Delhi Municipal Corporation Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti had issued advisory on prevention and control of vector-borne diseases in Delhi last week.

The SDMC is the nodal agency for control of vector-borne diseases in the city. Last year, 9,613 dengue cases, the highest number of cases of the vector-borne disease, was recorded in Delhi in a year since 2015, while 23 deaths were also reported.
The SDMC advisory had been sent to all offices of central, state governments, CPWD, PWD, DDA, Delhi Police, Delhi Jal Board and DMRC. Registrars of all universities and deemed universities in Delhi, all associations of professionals and all associations of traders and Chambers of Commerce have also been sent the advisory, the SDMC had said.

The commissioner had said that this year, there is a need to concentrate more on educational institutions, colleges and schools as they were closed due to COVID-19 crisis, and were now reopening. Bharti had also called upon RWAs, market association and the general public to take preventive measures failing which the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya may become uncontrollable. In the years prior to 2021, the total dengue cases reported were — 4431 (2016), 4726 (2017), 2798 (2018), 2036 (2019) and 1072 (2020), according to the report.

In 2015, the city had witnessed a massive outbreak of dengue, when the number of dengue cases reported has crossed 10,600 in October itself, making it the worst outbreak of vector-borne disease in the capital since 1996. The number of dengue fatalities logged in 2021 was the highest in the national capital since 2016, when the officially reported death count was 10. Delhi had recorded two deaths due to dengue in 2019, four in 2018, and 10 each in 2017 and 2016. The civic report, released on Monday, also stated that seven cases of malaria and eight cases of chikungunya have been reported so far this year in Delhi.