Two more dengue deaths in Delhi, toll rises to 25

New Delhi: Two more persons including a minor died of Dengue in the National Capital even as hospitals in the city today witnessed a sharp rise in the number of people seeking treatment for the vector borne disease.

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. Also, reports of the 34-year-old woman from Kalyanpuri who had died at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital last week said she was dengue positive.

These three deaths have pushed the dengue death toll to 25, even as the official figure stands at 17.

Meanwhile, hospitals in the city witnessed a sharp rise in the number of people seeking treatment for dengue with experts blaming the recent showers in the city which led to water logging in several places.

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

According to doctors at Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital, almost 200 patients had come seeking treatment for fever and 3 tested positive for dengue. Guru Teg Bahardur hospital, in the last 24 hours recorded, 507 suspected dengue cases and 24 positive dengue cases.

The Ram Manohar Lohiya hospital recorded 1065 suspected dengue cases and 748 confirmed cases of dengue in the same period. The emergency ward at the premier institute AIIMS, also received almost 2000 suspected dengue cases even as large number of people having fever visited the OPDs.

"More reports are yet to arrive, so the positive cases could rise," said a senior doctor adding that the patients have increased.

According to official figures released yesterday, a total of 3,791 people were affected by dengue till September 19 while 17 of them have succumbed to it.

As hospitals in the city remained flooded with dengue patients, Delhi and Central government continued their efforts to contain the disease in the city, which is facing its worst outbreak in the past six years.

A total of 1,919 new cases were reported last week alone marking a rise of over 102 per cent compared to previous week, as per weekly figures released by the MCD which has intensified fogging across Delhi as fresh showers have stoked fears of dengue cases flaring up.

The Union Health Ministry has issued an advisory to Delhi government to "intensify" measures to check the breeding of mosquitoes.