First dengue case recorded in Delhi in January

New Delhi: Delhi has reported its first dengue case this year in January even though the vector-borne disease is usually reported between July and November, according to a municipal report released Monday.

Last year, 2,798 dengue cases and four deaths were recorded by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates data on vector-borne diseases in the city. According to the report released Monday, a lone case in January has been reported this year by the SDMC.

Cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between July and November, but the period may stretch to mid-December. The dengue victims last year included a minor boy. Three of the victims were identified by as Aman Tiwari (13), Sanskriti (21) and Gagan (23).

Doctors have advised people to take precautions to ensure that there was no breeding of mosquito larvae around them and urged them to wear full-sleeves and use mosquito nets. Water coolers should be dried up when not in use as dengue infection-carrying mosquitoes breed there a lot, a doctor said.

Civic bodies had also recently organised a workshop on the prevention of vector-borne diseases. However, no fresh cases of malaria or chikungunya have been reported this year. Of the total number of cases last year, as many as 141 were recorded in December, while 1,062 dengue cases were reported in November and 1,114 in October, the report said.

Of the total dengue cases last year, 374 were recorded in September, 58 in August, 19 in July, eight in June, 10 in May, two in April, one in March, three in February and six in January. The rest of the cases were reported from areas outside the jurisdiction of the three municipal corporations of Delhi.

Also, 473 cases of malaria and 165 of chikungunya were reported last year. According to the SDMC, 10 people had died due to dengue in Delhi in 2017, of whom five were not residents of the national capital. Overall, the vector-borne disease had affected 9,271 people in the city that year.