Dengue death toll at 35 in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 17 (UNI) With dengue showing no signs of abating, the viral disease has so far claimed 35 lives and the total number of reported cases has soared to 1,731.

Twentyfive-year old Rohit Sharma, a resident of Bareilly, succumbed to dengue fever last night. He was admitted to the institute in a critical condition last night and died within an hour.

MCD officials said of the total number of cases till 1000 hrs this morning, 1100 were from Delhi alone.

Central Zone, Shahdara (North) and Najafgarh continued to remain the worst affected areas.

AIIMS Medical Superintendent Dr D K Sharma said 27 patients were admitted to the institute in the past 24 hours till 1000 hrs. Twenty seven people were discharged.

The total number of dengue patients under going treatment in the hospital now stands at 178.

Dr Sharma said 125 suspected dengue patients are under observation in AIIMS.

''The disease is not abating. We are getting a constant stream of people in AIIMS. The numbers are on the rise,'' he said.

More than 20,000 patients have been screened at the AIIMS emergency OPD since October 3, doctors said.

The hospital is conducting about 1,600 platelet-counting tests daily with the help of four separator machines, functioning round-the-clock.

Doctors at the premier healthcare institute are struggling to keep pace with the dengue deluge and only emergency and dengue patients are being admitted to the hospital.

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