Delhi: 2 more die of dengue, LG for full scale ops to check outbreak

New Delhi, Sep 22: Two more persons succumbed to dengue in the national capital, taking the toll to 25, even as Lt Governor Najeeb Jung directed authorities to mount full a scale operation to contain spread of the disease which has affected close to 4,000 people.

Shivam Dubey (14) from West Delhi and Ram Babu (24) from East Delhi died at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial hospital and Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital respectively yesterday, authorities said today.

The authorities confirmed that a 34-year-old woman from Kalyanpuri, who had died at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital last week, had dengue, pushing the death toll due to dengue to 25, even as the official figure stands at 17.

As city remained under the grip of dengue, Jung appealed to people to come together and help tide over the crisis and not to panic.

At a meeting with departments concerned, he said all citizens as individuals have a larger stake in prevention of breeding of mosquitoes within households and neighbourhoods and said people must cooperate with the authorities in containing the disease.

Hospitals across Delhi today witnessed a sharp rise in the number of people seeking treatment for dengue. Experts said recent showers may have caused the spurt in breeding of dengue -causing mosquito resulting in more number of cases. Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the dengue virus to humans, breeds in stagnant water.

"More number of people with fever and dengue symptom have visited the OPDs and Fever Clinics in the last 24 hours. This is perhaps due to the light rains in the city in the last few days," said a senior doctor at Safdarjung Hospital.

In the meeting, Jung directed municipal agencies to mount a "full scale operation" for control of dengue through source reduction.

He asked them to follow a targeted approach, based on pockets of high incidence and directed them to follow a roster for checking breeding of larvae and to carry out planned fumigation.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary DDA Vice Chairman Chairperson of NDMC, commissioners of all three Municipal Corporations, CEO of Delhi Cantonment Board, Chief Medical Director of Northern Railway, Director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme and officials from the Ministry of Health among others.

PTI