Dengue, chikungunya cases have declined this year: Delhi Govt tells SC

As per data provided by the civic bodies, there were 9,633 and 4,305 dengue and chikungunya cases respectively till December 3, 2016.

New Delhi, Oct 11: The national capital has witnessed a lesser number of dengue and chikungunya cases this year compared to 2016 and the situation was "not bad", Delhi Government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Delhi government's counsel told a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta that as per the data compiled by municipal corporations of Delhi (MCDs) till October 7, 368 chikungunya cases were reported here, while the all-India figure till this period stood at 8,726.

The counsel said that till October 7, 2,152 dengue cases were reported in the national capital which also included one death from the vector-borne disease. Last year, Delhi had seen an outbreak of chikungunya and dengue.

As per data provided by the civic bodies, there were 9,633 and 4,305 dengue and chikungunya cases respectively till December 3, 2016. As per the data, this year, out of a total of 4,545 dengue cases reported in the national capital, 2,152 were residents of Delhi, while the rest were from other states.

Of the 2,152 Delhi cases, 345 were reported this month. Dengue and chikungunya are caused by the aedes aegypti mosquito, which breed in clear water. During the hearing, the Delhi government's counsel said, "This year the situation is not bad" and added that they would file an affidavit in this regard within a week. The apex court had in 2015 on its own taken cognisance of the death of a 7-year-old boy due to dengue after being allegedly denied treatment by five private hospitals and subsequent suicide by his parents, and sought the response from Delhi government.

PTI