New Delhi, (Samajweekly) According to a report released on Monday by the Municipal Corporation, Delhi has been reeling under the worst dengue crisis since 2016, as it recorded 1,851 cases in the past one week and a total of 7,128 cases this year, so far.
Apart from dengue, the national capital has also logged 167 cases of malaria and 89 cases of chikungunya, so far, this year.
In 2020, Delhi saw a total of 1,072 dengue cases, while 2,036 were recorded in 2019, 2,798 in 2018, 4,726 in 2017 and 4,431 in 2016.
However, there has been a dip this year in the number of malaria and chikungunya cases as the national capital had logged 7,760 cases in 2016 and 713 in 2019 respectively.
As per the civic body’s report, 5,591 cases and nine deaths have been registered due to the virus, till November 20.
Although there has been a decline in death rates, with the increasing number of cases each day, the virus is continuing to maintain its grip over the capital.
While in 2016 and 2017, there were 10 deaths due to dengue, there were four deaths in 2018, two in 2019 and one in 2020.
According to the report, a total of 2,056 cases were logged in the Southern Corporation, 2,116 in the Northern Corporation, 739 in the Eastern Corporation, 111 in Delhi Cantt and 65 in the NDMC area, so far.
Although the Arvind Kejriwal government and the civic body officials have been constantly making efforts to contain the virus, there has been no confirmation regarding when Delhi can expect respite from dengue bites.
Dengue mosquitoes breed in clean and stagnant water, while malaria mosquitoes breed in dirty water as well. Although, dengue and chikungunya mosquitoes do not travel very far, they can bite people living within 50 meters of stagnant water.
Dengue decreases the platelet count of a patient. Fever from dengue bites causes pain in the head, muscles, joints around the eyes, weakness, loss of appetite and sore throat.
