ISLAMABAD: As many as 78 new cases of dengue fever were reported in Islamabad during the last 24 hours, health authorities said Monday, expressing fears that the nation might face an outbreak of the disease in the coming days.
According to the Ministry of National Health Services data, five people have died of the viral disease so far in Islamabad and 1,229 cases have been reported.
In rural towns of the capital, 817 people contracted the disease while in urban centres, 412 were diagnosed with the virus which is spread by mosquitoes that can only survive in warm temperatures.
Keeping in view of the alarming spike in dengue fever cases, the health department in collaboration with the district administrations has begun fumigation and an awareness campaign in the province.
On the instructions of Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Imran Sikandar Baloch, the campaign to eliminate the disease was going on in full swing across the province.
The authorities have expedited efforts to destroy dengue larvae, he said.
Baloch further said during the past 24 hours, 169 dengue patients were reported in Punjab. Of these, 124 were reported from Lahore, 26 from Rawalpindi, three from Sargodha, while Multan, Khanewal, Gujranwala, Layyah, and Vehari announced two cases each.
To date, 3,975 cases of viral fever have so far been reported in Punjab. The bulk of these cases were reported from Lahore where the total number of infections is 3,145.
The secretary further said 428 patients were being treated across the province, while 238 additional were admitted to Lahore hospitals.
He urged the people to take extra care in order to prevent the spread of dengue.
KP REPORTS 135 NEW CASES
According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department, 135 new dengue cases were reported during the last 24 hours. The total number of these cases reached 2,795 after recording new cases. The disease has so far killed four people in the province.
In Peshawar, 38 people were diagnosed with dengue Sunday. Peshawar’s caseload with the new cases surged to 803. Lower Dir reported 14, Shangla 12 and Haripur reported 39 dengue cases, the department said.
Meanwhile, in Balochistan, a total of 1,750 dengue cases have been reported from the Gwadar, Kech and Lasbela districts this year.
According to government officials, despite various challenges posed by Covid-19, the government has been making all-out efforts and taking adequate measures to stem the further spread of the dengue virus.
Only nine countries faced severe dengue outbreaks in 1970. But the disease is now seen in more than 100 countries. There are thought to be 390 million infections each year.
In 2011, a major outbreak of dengue fever — potentially lethal disease spread by mosquito bites — infected 20,000 and killed more than 300 people.
Subsequently, in 2019, rising temperatures across Asia and the Americas contributed to multiple severe outbreaks of dengue fever globally, making it the worst year on record for the disease.
Other Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, also had outbreaks, with a particularly severe situation in the Philippines, where 1,000 people died of the disease, including hundreds of children, in 2019.
